Congress recently eliminated several programs administered by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.  Notwithstanding these budget cuts, the programs that remain are critical to our efforts to establish safe, supportive, and healthy schools so that children can learn and reach their full potential.  Moreover, the Department is committed to developing and deepening program and policy expertise in the program offices, especially in high-priority areas.  Therefore, to maximize limited resources, while preserving our program focus, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and it's programs were moved into a new Office of Safe and Healthy Students within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).  This change was effective on September 26, 2011, and will provide new opportunities for staff from OESE and OSDFS to work together to improve school environments and support children’s learning, health, and well-being. Within the next few weeks, the contents of the new OSHS (formerly OSDFS) webpages will be relocated to OESE's homepage and will be available at www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/index.html.

The Office of Safe and Healty Students (formerly OSDFS) administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving quality and excellence of programs and activities that are designed to:

• Provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education. Activities may be carried out by State and local educational agencies and by other public and private nonprofit organizations.

• Participate in the formulation and development of ED program policy and legislative proposals and in overall Administration policies related to violence and drug prevention; drafting program regulations.

• Participate in interagency committees, groups, and partnerships related to drug and violence prevention, coordinating with other Federal agencies on issues related to comprehensive school health, and advising the Secretary on the formulation of comprehensive school health education policy.

• Participate with other Federal agencies in the development of a national research agenda for drug and violence prevention.

• Administer the Department's programs relating to character and civics education.

Organization

The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is under the supervision of the Assistant Deputy Secretary who reports to the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary on policy and program administration matters. The Immediate Office of the Assistant Deputy Secretary provides overall direction, coordination, and leadership to the following major elements:

• Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, and Physical Education
• Drug-Violence Prevention - State Programs
• Drug-Violence Prevention - National Programs
• Character and Civic Education
• Policy and Cross-Cutting Programs