AUSTIN, Texas – With the 85th Texas Legislative Session more than halfway complete, much time and energy is spent right now on the decisions being made at the Capitol. Several of us from TJJD are regularly at the Capitol talking about the needs of our system. Many of our county partners and juvenile justice practitioners are doing the same. In February, I testified before the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee to lay out the budget needs for both TJJD and county probation partners. Since that time, each committee has completed their work; in the coming weeks, we will see each bill discussed on the floor of each house.
While I wish I could say we received funding for all of our needs, the unusually tight fiscal climate this session means most of our exceptional item requests did not receive favorable review. The House allows for floor amendments to the budget. This is the only remaining opportunity for substantive changes to the budget before Conference Committee work. We are encouraged by the interest members show in our work and their willingness to continue to meet with us. While it appears that we will face a decrease in funding for probation departments and the state, we continue to meet with members in support of our budget. I encourage you to do the same.
I am happy to report that the Regionalization effort continues to progress. This youth diversion partnership between TJJD and county probation departments is instrumental in keeping more youth out of state placements. As of March 17, we received 164 diversion applications, approved 104, and 88 youth have been placed. We are ahead of our goal to divert at least 150 youth this fiscal year. Youth have been placed at 30 different placement facilities. To date, 53 counties, representing small, medium and large jurisdictions, have participated in Regionalization. This figure is particularly enlightening when you consider that through January of 2017, TJJD commitments have come from 66 counties.
TJJD recently made the difficult decision to close York Halfway House, effective March 31. While I am hesitant to relinquish a step-down resource, the population at York House has been well below capacity for several months. As such, the current fiscal environment necessitated the decision to close. Currently vacant positions throughout TJJD were offered to interested York House employees. Of the 21 employees at York House, all ten who were interested in continuing employment with TJJD in other locations have been placed in positions.
On a lighter note, during the first week in March, the agency hosted the fourth site visit of the Youth In Custody Practice Model. Approximately 60 staff were in Austin to continue developing a roadmap for implementing best practices in our work. TJJD staff were energetic and engaged and their input, participation and thoughtful commentary were all signs to me of an engaged and committed cadre of professionals never giving up on becoming better at what we do. The level of integration we can achieve knows no limits other than ourselves and I eagerly look forward to the next several months as this all comes together.
PHOTO: David Reilly