Douglas County commissioners set meetings on truancy plan and budget hearing
Commissioners will hear a truancy overhaul that shifts school attendance work into county youth services before July budget hearings on fire protection and other spending.
Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday, July 1, will consider a truancy overhaul that would move elementary and middle school attendance work into the county’s criminal justice system, along with a 10-year NRA for Alarm.com in Lawrence. The commission will meet Wednesday, July 1, with a work session at 4 p.m. and a business meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Commission Chamber at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence. Both meetings will be streamed online.
The EveryDay Counts proposal has been in front of commissioners since Jan. 28, when they first reviewed the K-8 initiative aimed at chronic absenteeism before cases reach court. The plan would shift elementary and middle school truancy services from the Center for Supportive Communities to Douglas County Criminal Justice Services’ Youth Services division, using Kansas truancy law and a three-tier graduated response.
Under the proposal, families would be contacted, barriers to attendance identified and voluntary case management offered. The program also would include school and home visits, referrals to community resources and an attendance contract that calls for eight consecutive weeks without unexcused absences. The program would partner with Building Peace, which works with the Douglas County court system on mediation and diversion when possible.
The county set aside $150,000 in its 2026 budget to explore alternatives to existing truancy services. The Center for Supportive Communities has handled the work since 2023 at a cost of $150,000 a year, and a December 2025 consent item allowed it to continue through the end of the 2025-2026 school year, leaving $87,500 available for the remainder of 2026. Earlier projections put the EveryDay Counts plan at $77,016 for fiscal 2026 and $123,868 for fiscal 2027.
Commissioners also will hear input on the 2027 budget for Consolidated Fire District No. 1, which was created by Douglas County Resolution 20-25 in June 2020 and began official operations on Jan. 1, 2021. The district covers 228 square miles in central and northern rural Douglas County, including Clinton Lake, Lone Star Lake and stretches of I-70, K-10, U.S.-40 and U.S.-59.
That district’s 2026 budget request, filed in 2025, sought a 9% increase to about $2.5 million from about $2.3 million, along with a half-mill property tax increase that would have put it at the 6-mill maximum set by county commissioners. The proposal also called for two new full-time positions, a reclassified 24/7 post at Station 151 in Lecompton and a $150,000 addition to reserves for future fire trucks and major equipment.
The July 1 meeting comes just before special commission budget hearings on July 6 and July 7 for the 2027 budget. July 6 is set to open with supportive housing and behavioral health and substance-use presentations, while July 7 will focus on law enforcement, justice and heritage and land categories.
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