PANEL RESTORES JUVENILE FUNDING THAT WOULD AID ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS

A Missouri House committee has restored juvenile court funding that would benefit the operation of alternative schools in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties.

The House Appropriations Committee for Social Services and Corrections made the first step in legislative efforts to restore funding.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has proposed cutting $2.7 million from Juvenile Court Diversion funding for the next fiscal year.

The committee has recommended restoring the $2.7 million and adding another $500,000 to the Juvenile Court Diversion program. If the governor's recommended budget is adopted, the funding cut would be felt statewide for various juvenile court services. Locally, it would hurt the operation of alternative schools in the 32nd Judicial Circuit, said Randy Rhodes, the chief juvenile officer in the three-county circuit.

Alternative schools help dropouts and students with disciplinary problems get an education.

Juvenile Court Diversion money provides $361,247 for juvenile court activities, including grants to help operate the alternative schools in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville, and the alternative education program in Bollinger County.

Funding for the alternative schools could be reduced by $108,000 if the governor's budget is approved, Rhodes said.

Alternative schools also receive state education money, but the Juvenile Court Diversion funding has been a big help, he said.

In Bollinger County, the alternative education program is run by the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, formerly the vo-tech school. Juvenile Court Diversion money provided about $27,000 last year for computer equipment and software, Rhodes said. This year about $4,000 is being spent to help fund the program.

The Cape Girardeau Alternative Education Center receives about $157,000 a year in Juvenile Court Diversion money. Alternative schools in Perryville and Jackson receive $95,000 and $86,000, respectively.

"I am pretty proud of how the districts have grabbed it up and used it," Rhodes said of the funding.

Rhodes said more than 150 students are enrolled in the alternative schools and 50 students have graduated from the alternative schools.

"These children succeed with us in spite of sordid family backgrounds and a history of law violations," he wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to a state lawmaker.

Superintendent Stephen Doerr of the Perry County School District wants lawmakers to restore the funding. He said so in a Feb. 9 letter to Rep. Quincy Troupe, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee for Social Services and Corrections. "Without the JCD funding, it is highly probable that Perry County will not be able to continue offering alternative school programming," he wrote.

The House committee's action is good news, Rhodes said, adding: "I think it is a real good first step."

State Budget Director Mark Ward said Carnahan proposed the budget cut because Congress has been cutting the federal funding that pays for Juvenile Court Diversion grants. Ward said Congress has cut $33 million in funding for Juvenile Court Diversion, youth services and social services over the past several years.

In past years the Carnahan administration and the Legislature have used state general revenue and federal welfare grant money to make up the difference, Ward said.