COLUMBUS — The state said Monday it was pulling statistics on school violence and substance abuse from its Department of Education Web site after learning of several questionably high numbers.

        State officials are reviewing the data, which would be used to award millions of dollars in federal grants, because of questions raised by The Associated Press.

        Among the statistics for the 1998-99 school year:

        • Ashtabula city schools reported more than 15,000 violations by middle school students of its anti-tobacco policy. The school has about 1,000 middle schoolers.

        • Dayton city schools mistakenly reported 130 elementary school students violated a policy against bringing guns or gun replicas to school. The actual number was 13.

        • Columbus schools reported several exceptionally high violence statistics, including more than 700 elementary school staff members attacked or injured by students on school grounds.

        Some 589 of the 612 districts have reported the 1998-99 data, which the state uses to distribute grants through the federal Safe, Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act.

        The program awarded more than $7 million to 61 schools in May based on data from the 1997-98 school year. The state says those statistics were valid.

        “What percentage of 589 reports are inflated figures? I don't know that yet,” said Mike Magnusson, an Education Department consultant who coordinates the grants. “It could be a very small percent but, unfortunately as they stand, they're problematic.”

        Mr. Magnusson said the department will review all the data that districts reported. “We're going to sit back down with districts and remind them, "You can't make your own definitions for questions. You must take time to verify what you're putting in the report because it is a public document.'”

        The state combines tobacco, drug, alcohol and weapons statistics from the report with data on suspensions, expulsions and poverty from separate reports to determine eligibility for grants.

        Some districts say the numbers they reported don't match the numbers used by the state. According to the state, for example, 52 staff members were attacked by high school students in Felicity-Franklin schools, a rural dis trict along the Ohio River.

        The district reported only one attack, said Constance Taggart, a special education teacher who compiled the data. Drug, alcohol and weapons statistics reported by the district also don't match the state report.

        “I'm just shocked at the number, shocked those figures are out there,” Roger Hornsby, Felicity-Franklin superintendent, said Monday of the staff figure. “And to be as incorrect as they are, whatever other figures are in the reports I wouldn't even look at.”

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