HONOLULU -- The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday demanded the governor back off a plan to randomly drug test Hawaii's 13,000 public schoolteachers.

The ACLU said the testing is illegal.

In May, Hawaii's public schoolteachers voted in favor of a new contract that included hefty pay raise and random drug testing.

The state wanted drug testing after four Hawaii teachers were arrested on drug charges.

Graham Boyd and Hawaii ACLU Executive Director Vanessa Chong of the ACLU delivered a letter to the governor telling her to halt the testing plan.

"The ACLU'S position is that it is a travesty that the governor has bullied public schoolteachers to sacrifice a fundamental right in exchange for a living wage," Chong said. "If the governor does not agree to withdraw the drug testing scheme we will be forced to go to court. We don't look forward to that. We think it should be settled but we are prepared to do so."

The ACLU contends random drug testing is illegal and ineffective.

"It subjects a whole class of innocent people and treats them as though they were criminal suspects so the rights of the many are subject for the dishonest few," Boyd said.

ACLU officials said urine tests, at $200 a crack, would divert time and money from classroom improvements.

The teacher's union says 61 percent of Hawaii's teachers who voted for the contract approved of random drug testing. So, they are going ahead with the program unless they are told by a court to stop.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association said Hawaii's teachers are committed to drug-free schools.

The state, the school board and the HSTA must create a drug testing plan by next June for testing to begin in the 2008 school year.

Linda Smith of the governor's office said Hawaii's teachers were not bullied into accepting drug testing. She said the majority that voted for the contract agreed to it on their own.