Meridian — Most school districts in the Treasure Valley do not drug test their teacher and staff.
The West Ada School District, the biggest school district in the state, does not drug test its teachers or staff before they’re hired.
The last time the school board considered it was 18 years ago.
“What they concluded at the time was there was no problem, that led them to the conclusion that no, we shouldn’t spend the money to do this because we didn't have any issues where staff being under the influence at work or we didn’t have any arrests,” said Eric Exline, West Ada School District Spokesman.
Exline says that in nearly 20 years, he’s aware of only one teacher who was arrested for drugs and it happened during off hours.
Spending an estimated $300,000 to drug test the approximately 6,000 employees might not be justified at this time.
Exline also says there’s a built-in deterrent for teachers to stay clean.
“Idaho's Teachers Professional Code of Ethics getting arrested for illegal drug violations means you can lose your license and then your career is over they can actually take your certification away. That's probably unlike other professions, that's probably a big part of why we don't seem to have a problem,” Exline said.
CBS 2News checked in with other school districts in the valley to see what their drug testing policies are.
The Boise, Caldwell and Kuna school districts also do not drug test as part of the hiring process.
The Nampa School District says it does drug test all teachers and staff before hiring them.
The issue of drug testing teachers and staff has people talking.
“You know, I think mandatory drug testing is a little invasive and a little outdated. I guess it depends if there was a certain infraction that would be a step to pursue further,” said Shawn Loga of Meridian.
“I think that's pretty important pretty important to do especially with the employment practices most companies have to do that in fact all companies I know of do it,” said John Anderson of Meridian.
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