Sponsors (10)
The bill directs modest federal funds to expand evidence‑based, school‑community substance‑use prevention and local capacity, benefiting students and prevention providers but with limited reach due to small grant sizes, added administrative burden for recipients, and a modest taxpayer cost.
Students in participating schools receive funded, evidence-based prevention programs tailored to their population, which can reduce youth substance use and misuse.
Local schools and Drug‑Free Communities coalitions receive dedicated grant funding (up to $75,000 per grant; program capped at about $7M/year) to build school–community prevention partnerships.
Grants may fund specialized training and technical assistance, improving local capacity to deliver and sustain evidence‑based prevention services.
Grant size limit ($75,000) and one‑grantee‑per‑school rule may limit reach, leaving many schools without support or with underfunded programs.
Schools and coalitions may face administrative burden to apply, report, and meet evaluation requirements, diverting staff time from other activities.
The program increases federal spending (about $7M/year), a cost borne by taxpayers and potentially requiring tradeoffs with other spending priorities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 31, 2025 by Linda T. Sánchez · Last progress January 31, 2025
Creates a grant program at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to fund school–community partnerships between Drug‑Free Communities–funded coalitions and local K–12 schools to implement evidence-based drug prevention activities. Grants are capped at $75,000 per year, renewable for up to three consecutive years, and the program is authorized at $7,000,000 annually for FY2026–FY2031 with up to 8% of those funds available for ONDCP administration. Eligible coalitions must have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with at least one local school and submit an application and implementation plan in the form and timeline the Director requires. Grant funds must supplement, not supplant, other federal or non‑federal funds; may be used for program implementation and specialized training; and are subject to evaluation requirements already applied to Drug‑Free Communities grants.