Budget cuts may close county Youth Court
Judicial District working for alternative ways to fund diversion program
A Marion County program designed to curtail juvenile offenses may be eliminated before it truly gets started.
The program is Marion County Youth Court. It's a system that lets high school students serve as lawyers and jury members in trials for county juveniles who've committed minor offenses.
Training for youth court began in February, and only one session has been held.
Budget constraints may force youth court overseers to end the juvenile program.
Youth court is supervised by the Eighth Judicial District, a division of the Kansas Department of Justice that encompasses Marion, Morris, Geary, and Dickinson counties.
In the Eighth District, as is true for many other government entities, operating costs have increased — more specifically, the cost of health insurance for district personnel, said Mike Wederski, director of community corrections.
The district's budget runs on the fiscal year, which starts July 1. In planning for this year's expenses, the district increased the budget by 20 percent to allow for the insurance increase.
However, state funding didn't increase — it was cut by nearly $10,000, Wederski said.
The district faces a choice: which programs to cut. Since youth court falls within the realm of programs not mandated by the state, it's vulnerable, Wederski said.
"The budget was tight in the first place," he said.
Keeping the personnel needed to run the program is the problem, he said.
"We need a large sum of money because of the number of employees," he said.
The Eighth District now plans to seek the money from another source: the counties.
On July 28, representatives from the court and other local officials plan to meet with Marion County Commission, in hopes of convincing the commissioners to approve funds to support youth court.
Eighth District plans to meet with the commissions of all four counties, asking them to give a percentage of funds that relates to the number of juvenile court filings the county processes.
If youth court is shut down, it would cease to exist in all four counties — including Geary, where a strong youth court program has been running for years, said Joyce Galloway who evaluates programs of the district's juvenile justice authority.
In the three years that youth court has been in place in Geary and Dickinson counties, those counties have been able to send half of their juvenile diversion cases to youth court, freeing up county resources.
Youth court has had a great success rate in those counties, Galloway said.
That's why she's determined not to let it go by the wayside. Galloway and other district employees are looking at ways to cut costs in other areas, in addition to grants and other means of funding the program.
"We're doing all that we can to save it," Galloway said. "We are working very hard and looking at alternatives."
