Boone County children’s program tasked with cutting $1.6 million by fall 2027

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Family Access Center of Excellence has been tasked with cutting its budget by $1.6 million ahead of the 2027-28 school year.

The FACE program works with students in schools across the county to help students who need additional social, emotional or behavioral support, according to its website. The program is funded through the Boone County Children's Services tax fund, which is collected through sales tax.

The Boone County Children's Services Board maintains the funds and advised FACE leadership to scale back operations in March while the two organizations renegotiate contracts.

Currently, FACE receives $3.6 million, but the board wants to cut that down to $2 million before the fall 2027 semester.

ABC 17 News has reached out to FACE for a comment, but leadership wasn't available at the time of publication.

Boone County Community Services Director Joanne Nelson said there shouldn't be any disruptions to programs this year, but moving forward, the board wants to keep a few FACE programs, including supporting Boone County schools, providing access to affordable therapy for low-income families and keeping juvenile justice prevention and diversion efforts.

Nelson said FACE is working on a "reimagined" program, one that can focus on what the children's services board has listed as priorities.

Other children's services programs could also be at risk for funding cuts.

"What we're going to start seeing is reductions across all contracted programs," Nelson said. "Maybe not for next year, but maybe for '28."

Children's services held millions of dollars in its fund balance, Nelson said. Once the board started awarding those funds, the fund wasn't being fully replenished by the sales tax revenue, and the board told its members to look for additional funding.