SB1432: Juvenile secure detention facilities; closure or consolidation, funding contributions.

Legislative Summary

Juvenile secure detention facilities; closure or consolidation; funding contributions; education programs. Provides that upon the closure or consolidation of a juvenile secure detention facility, any locality or commission operating a juvenile secure detention facility in which juveniles will be placed who previously would have been placed in the closed or consolidated juvenile secure detention facility shall negotiate in good faith with the locality from which a juvenile may be placed to arrive at mutually agreeable funding contributions for the operation of such receiving juvenile secure detention facility. The bill requires such agreements to include certain provisions related to equal access to post-dispositional programming and medical and hospitalization costs and provides that such agreements may include provisions related to transportation of juveniles and transportation options for parents or guardians.The bill further states that if the localities or commissions are unable to reach such an agreement, then the Department of Juvenile Justice shall determine the funding contributions and that failure of any locality or commission to comply with such determination may result in the loss or reduction of state funding. Under the bill, any locality or commission operating a juvenile secure detention facility that refuses to accept placement of juveniles who previously would have been placed in a closed or consolidated juvenile secure detention facility shall not be eligible for state funding.The bill changes the required staffing ratio for education programs in regional and local detention homes to one full-time equivalent program employee for every six students based on a rolling average daily population at the facility as calculated by the Department of Education from the previous three fiscal years. Under current law, the ratio for such programs is one teacher for every 12 beds based on the capacity of the facility. The bill also provides that the Board of Education shall require all such education programs to have either a principal or a lead teacher on site and requires contracts for the hiring and supervision of teachers to allow a teacher employed by a local school board to continue teaching in his local school division and be hired as a part-time teacher for such an education program. The bill requires that each part-time teacher for an education program be provided an annual $3,000 bonus.Lastly, the bill directs the closure of seven juvenile secure detention facilities across the Commonwealth and specifies the facilities to be closed and the facilities into which they may be consolidated. The bill requires the facilities to be closed and consolidated by January 1, 2026, and states that any such facility that fails to comply with the requirements for closure and consolidation, in addition to any other remedy available at law, shall not be eligible for state funding.