Better than boys ranch?

The Judge Riddel Boys Ranch at Lake Afton was prized for decades, and its closing last year left regret and even hard feelings.

Members of the new majority on the Sedgwick County Commission opposed the cost-saving move and have expressed a determination to reopen the ranch.

But there now may be a better way – one that is both more effective and fiscally responsible. Even Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau, a proponent of reopening the ranch, suggested the approach “could be a very innovative, exciting way to address the issue.”

Before he retired this month, County Manager William Buchanan proposed developing behavioral programs for juvenile offenders and serving them wherever they reside, rather than again focusing local resources on the operation of a county-owned facility.

While operating the boys ranch or paying another provider to run a similar youth residential center for the county could cost $1.9 million next year – plus unspecified but sizable one-time costs to reopen the mothballed complex – the alternative could cost $500,000, according to Buchanan’s projections.

The programmatic model also could be a bridge for the county toward a new state-level approach to juvenile justice, which is likely to reflect recent research favoring alternatives to out-of-home placements and treatment.

Especially given its budget problems, the state seems unlikely to shoulder more of the expense of youth corrections. As it was, the state would only pay $126 of the $200 per day and per boy it cost the county to operate the ranch last year. The county currently has a mix of for-profit, nonprofit and county-run facilities comparable to the boys ranch – four centers that can house a total 109 boys and 14 girls. Is a fifth necessary, especially if its costs would fall disproportionately on county taxpayers?

The prospects of turning back time and reopening the ranch also worry USD 259, which is required by state law to provide the ranch’s educational programs. The Wichita district spent $700,000 a year on the boys’ schooling, including mileage for teachers to commute there. But state money covered only about half the costs.

A year after the ranch closed, the district’s budget problems have only deepened, because the Legislature just locked in K-12 funding for two years without regard to enrollment growth. As it is, the district is considering a property tax increase to help cover about $14 million in increased operational and instructional costs for the 2015-16 school year.

As Sedgwick County decides how to proceed on juvenile justice, it should keep the Wichita district in the loop and its fiscal challenges in mind.

And whether the boys ranch has a future should not be determined by the past, but rather what’s best for Sedgwick County’s budget and public safety, and the prospects of rehabilitation for its young offenders.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published June 23, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Better than boys ranch?."