The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would strip schools of federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools funds if they do not allow searches for weapons and drugs, The Nation reported Oct. 24.

The bill, H.R. 5295, was passed on a voice vote Sept. 19, with only a handful of Republican House members taking part. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.). "School officials should have the authority to handle potentially dangerous situations and take the steps necessary to intervene when the safety of our children is in jeopardy," said House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

The bill comes in the wake of a string of violent school incidents, but is opposed by educational groups like the National Parent Teacher Association and the American Association of School Administrators, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The National Education Association, however, endorses the measure, saying it provides needed guidance to schools.

Critics point to a 2003 police raid in South Carolina that resulted in high-school students being handcuffed in a drug raid that turned up no drugs. Most of the students targeted in the raid were African-American, even though they represented a minority of the student body.

"The intent here is to broaden the powers that school officials have to search students," says Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project.  "One of the foundational aspects of the Fourth Amendment is individualized suspicion -- that you have done wrong, not that wrong has been done ... This legislation is quite mischievous because it purports to tell school officials that they can search whole groups of students."

Davis replied that the bill "does not issue a blank check to anyone to conduct random, unfounded or mass searches. It does not change the Fourth Amendment standards on search and seizure."