By BLAISE MESA
The Beacon
An evidence-based fund was created to help minors avoid the criminal justice system. But some groups are struggling to access the money.
Steve Stonehouse has seen it before.
Children come to the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections youth intake facility, where he’s the director. They’re already kicked out of school and have nothing to do all day. So, the county corrections department started offering classes.
The kids get at least four months of schooling, and they might also get anger management, grief and trauma counseling. Stonehouse said about 100 children are getting help.
It’s all part of the county’s Evening Reporting Center.
“We have a pretty high tolerance for behavior issues and things like that,” Stonehouse said, adding that youth aren’t kicked out of the program for behavior that would get them kicked out elsewhere.
The programming is funded through a statewide grant designed to help Kansas youth avoid future run-ins with the criminal justice system. Programs in Sedgwick County offer a model of how some people think the money can change a child’s life.
“We pick all the kids up. We provide the transportation. We provide meals and we provide the services,” Stonehouse said. “We take away all the barriers.”
There’s just one problem. Community groups have struggled to get the grant funding, and it isn’t clear yet if recent legislative action has fixed the problem.
In 2023, the state planned to spend $36.3 million on evidence-based programs for minors. Only $9.8 million was spent. Kansas spent more in 2024, divvying out $21.5 million out of a $37.1 million budget.
Donald Hymer, assistant district attorney in Johnson County, is the chair of the group that recommends how the money is spent. The group doesn’t make the final budget decisions, but it has input.
He said the leftover money comes from some groups that overestimate how many children they will help and end up returning some cash. That’s an example of how hard it is to estimate the need for certain programs.
Other groups don’t know the money exists and don’t apply. And for some, the money comes with strict requirements. Before 2024, the money could only be spent on evidence-based programs, which is the highest standard possible.
Stonehouse said his county corrections department has enough staff to go through proper training and keep data on evidence-based programs to meet the grant requirements. Smaller grassroots groups can’t afford to send staff away for training and don’t have the capacity to track data.
“It can be overkill,” Stonehouse said. “Not everybody needs an evidence-based program.”
The Kansas Legislature made it easier to hand out money from the evidence-based fund this year. It OK’d funds to help both the juvenile and their family, which wasn’t previously allowed. The money is also eligible for a broader range of behavioral health issues.
Hymer said he’s happy with how the Legislature has set up the fund, and “the only thing left would be to expand to consider preventative resources or preventative programs.”
Senator-elect Stephen Owens, a Hesston Republican and current House member, recommended lawmakers look again during the 2025 session at the requirements, even though the new changes are less than five months old.
Gov. Laura Kelly has taken $20 million out of the fund before and put it into state general funds. That money was returned, but then lawmakers voted on a motion earlier this year to take $17 million out of the fund again.
“We just want to protect those funds and make sure that they’re helping the kids that they were designed to help,” Owens said.
Mike Fonkert, deputy director of Kansas Appleseed — a group focused on juvenile justice — said his group wants the money to help as many youth as possible. But he said there is a danger of making the money too available.
If that money can be used on more programs and more services, Fonkert said, it might get spread too thin to help the children it was designed for — kids in the criminal justice system.
Fonkert said some at the Statehouse have the perception that none of the money is being spent. That’s not true.
He said the state has done a good job of allocating the money overall, and state officials have been open to helping groups manage the grant process. Could more be done? Perhaps. But Fonkert said the money is accessible now.
The Legislature returns in January, when House and Senate committees are expected to further debate the rules around spending the money.