Drug testing among public school teachers will likely be considered next year by lawmakers troubled by the arrest of a teacher accused of dealing drugs, legislators said yesterday.

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Education and Military Affairs Committee, also said lawmakers should not assume that the case of special education teacher Lee N. Anzai is an isolated incident — a claim vehemently made by education officials since Anzai's arrest Tuesday.

"In the spectrum, from attorneys to other professionals to all levels of society, drug abuse is a problem, and we can't step back," said Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Moanalua, Salt Lake). "So I think in our school system there are probably others who are abusing drugs. That is how society is."

State Rep. Roy Takumi, chairman of the House Education Committee, said policy decisions like the one proposed by his Senate counterpart always raise questions about fairness. But Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), still expects to see bills introduced that attempt to make drug testing among teachers a reality. One argument against passage would be the cost involved with testing thousands of teachers who are law-abiding citizens, he said.

"Is it worth it? My answer today is 'I don't know,' " Takumi said. "Is it worthwhile for us to have a discussion about it? I think so."

But the suggestion angered Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. "It is wrong-headed," she said. "It is not going to solve the problem. Let's not pick on teachers as some sacrificial lamb in the war on drugs."

Anzai, 29, of Mililani, has been charged with selling crystal methamphetamine to an undercover officer on five occasions and has been accused of setting up drug deals while at school.

Under current state Department of Education policy, Anzai was not required to take a drug test prior to being hired and there were no drug tests during his six years at Leilehua.

Sakamoto said it would not be fair to make all 13,000 state teachers take a test. Random testing "would make sense," however, as long as the process was truly random. The fear that some administrators have is that some teachers might believe they are being unfairly targeted, he said.

But new teachers would have to pass a drug test, he said.

"The randomness would put everyone on notice — stay clean," he said.

State education officials yesterday said drug testing is costly and, if used as a pre-employment requirement, liable to fail because drug users could simply abstain long enough for the drugs to leave their body.

"I'm not sure that would be a deterrent for hiring someone," said Board of Education member Karen Knudsen. "It would probably be more effective if you had random drug testing. I am not advocating that, but it would seem to be more of a deterrent."

Knudsen said the board may discuss Anzai's case when it meets Oct. 19. "If it is something we are finding that is more prevalent, then we have to do something," she said.

The Department of Education stressed yesterday that it considered Anzai an isolated case and a department spokesman said drug testing of teachers is too severe a response.

"You don't use a shotgun approach necessarily to find those other problems if they exist," said department spokesman Greg Knudsen. "Very likely, the department would not favor any proposed legislation that would impose drug testing on all DOE employees."

It is costly, ineffective and offers a false sense of security, he said, adding that there is already a policy in place that requires drug testing if an employee is suspected of using drugs.

"We would have to have some evidence, some reasonable cause to require a follow-up drug test at our expense," he said.

At a Wednesday news conference announcing the case against Anzai, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said he favored testing teachers.

"I have always been a proponent for drug testing," Aiona said. "I think it only would be fair that it also be administered to our teachers and our administrators."

Husted, of HSTA, said teachers are furious at the suggestion that their ranks contain drug users.

Pre-employment testing is not a union issue because those prospective teachers are not union members, she said.

However, "it will certainly exacerbate the teacher shortage and make it worse," Husted said. "Hawai'i will be known as the state that engages in a drug witch hunt with its teachers."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.