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Texas steroid testing to survive budget cuts

23.05.11

AUSTIN — Texas is likely to keep testing high school athletes for steroids despite deep budget cuts across the state, but it will likely focus the testing on only a few sports — including football, baseball and track, state legislators said Monday.

The state will spend about $1.5 million over the next two years, far below the original $6 million budget when it was created in 2008. The final cost will be determined this week when lawmakers vote on the 2012-13 state budget.

Criticism has been mounting since the program began. More than 50,000 tests yielded fewer than 30 confirmed findings of steroid use.

Rep. Dan Flynn, a Van Republican who helped create the program, said steroid testing was difficult to defend at a time when budget cuts in public education threaten the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers and school workers across Texas.

But Flynn said Monday he believes steroid testing still works as a deterrent. Flynn and Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the Senate education committee, said the program has a valuable ally in Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who first championed it during his 2006 election campaign and wants to keep it alive.

Source: Houston Chronicle