Commission on Children and Youth asks for operating funds, staff to reduce death‑review backlog and boost oversight

Director Jacoby told the subcommittee that the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth (OCCY) has used recent appropriations to reduce its child death review backlog but still needs additional operational and personnel funding to sustain oversight functions.

Jacoby said OCCY currently spends about 94% of its appropriation on salaries and benefits, leaving roughly $200,000 annually for rent, IT, travel and other non‑personnel costs; the agency requested roughly $342,000 in operational funds to cover those overhead items, plus $261,677 for targeted salary revisions to move staff toward market parity.

OCCY asked for additional staff in the Office of Juvenile Systems Oversight (OJSO): Jacoby proposed three new oversight positions (investigators/coordinators) and a director for the oversight office to triage complex facility complaints, manage investigations, and allow current staff to focus on review and systemic work. OCCY said those requests are presented in priority order so partial funding can be applied to the highest‑priority items.

Jacoby also described data and methodology changes: OCCY will shift child death reporting to cohort‑year of death (rather than year reviewed) to permit clearer trend analysis. The agency reported it now has seven juvenile competency evaluators under contract, but competency evaluation requests have declined year‑to‑date (from 46 last year to 26 this year at the time of testimony).

Committee members probed scope and mission creep, asking whether OCCY’s many statutory responsibilities risk diluting oversight focus. Jacoby noted most program areas are statutory or assigned work and said OCCY’s non‑service role can be an asset when coordinating and critiquing other agencies’ services. She emphasized the priority ranking of OCCY’s incremental requests and offered to supply organizational charts and more granular cost data.

What’s next: OCCY will provide requested follow‑up materials (org chart, line‑item justifications and updated counts) and the committee will consider OCCY’s prioritized incremental list alongside other FY27 requests.