A U.S. District Court in West Virginia has halted random drug testing of teachers in that state, prompting Hawai'i legal experts to ponder the implications for teacher drug testing here.

The head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the teachers union, said it would be difficult to speculate what a ruling in another state could mean for Hawai'i's plan to implement random drug testing of teachers here.

"I think it speaks for the case that many teachers believe that there are constitutional questions in regards to random drug testing," said HSTA president Roger Takabayashi.

Takabayashi noted that the union had filed a petition with the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board, requesting a ruling on whether random drug testing is legal under the state Constitution. That petition was denied by the board.

The union has filed an appeal in Circuit Court. A court date has yet to be set in that case.

"We just want a legal ruling. If the ruling says it is legal and we have to do it, then we're going to do it. We've always said that from Day 1," Takabayashi said.

"But it's good to hear that a U.S. District judge made such a ruling," he said.

The union also recently began negotiations with the state for the next teachers contract. The current contract, which includes the random drug testing program, is to expire in June.

Jim Halvorson, a state deputy attorney general, said he could not comment specifically on the West Virginia ruling without reviewing the specifics of the case.

But, speaking in general terms, he said any ruling in a federal court would be considered locally if similar challenges were made here.

"Certainly, if it's deemed a violation of the federal Constitution and that ruling is made by a federal District Court, that could have a great deal of influence over what happens here," Halvorson said.

"Our District Courts would be interpreting this program under the same U.S. Constitution," he said.

But Halvorson pointed out that factual differences in each case would have to be considered. One example would be if the West Virginia random drug testing program was agreed to under collective bargaining.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i yesterday said the federal court decision in West Virginia strengthens its argument that random drug testing of teachers would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

"It shows that the kind of drug testing program that the state has planned is unconstitutional," said Daniel Gluck, staff attorney with ACLU Hawai'i.

This is not the first time that a federal court has made such a decision, he said. However, he said, the way the ruling was made is significant.

"The judge in this case ruled from the bench, which judges don't normally do unless the law is very, very clear," Gluck said.

In West Virginia yesterday, a federal judge found that the teachers were likely to prevail in a lawsuit against the Kanawha County School Board's plan to randomly drug test nearly all public school employees. The judge granted an injunction, halting the drug testing program, stating that the program would require the sacrifice of constitutional rights.

Similar to arguments being made by Hawai'i's teachers, the West Virginia Education Association argued that random drug testing would be an invasion of privacy. They also argued that teachers and other types of school personnel are not in "safety sensitive" positions that warrant random drug testing.