PRINCIPLES FOR THE CSAVR DURING THE 2003 REAUTHORIZATION OF THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) established a new One-Stop Career Center system, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), through which many federally funded education and training programs – including Wagner-Peyser programs, postsecondary vocational education, adult education, vocational rehabilitation (VR), and others – recruit and serve their customers.
The VR program, which is the primary federally funded employment and training program for persons with disabilities, is a mandatory partner under the One-Stop system. Congress designated the VR program as a required partner in order to ensure that individuals with disabilities, particularly those with significant disabilities, have effective and meaningful participation in the One-Stop system and have full and complete access to all of the services provided through that system. Collaboration between the state units administering the VR program and DOL funded workforce investment services is intended to produce better information, more comprehensive services, easier access to services, and improved long-term employment outcomes for persons with disabilities.
The CSAVR recognizes the importance of VR’s participation in the One-Stop system due to the fact that persons with disabilities have the highest unemployment rate of any segment of the American population, and the One-Stop delivery system should be an additional vehicle for increased resources and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The CSAVR cannot support, and will vigorously oppose, any efforts to undermine the public vocational rehabilitation program’s ability to provide VR services to eligible individuals with disabilities to assist them in obtaining employment. This includes the funding, administration, and service delivery aspects of the program. In addition, the following issues must be addressed, in order for the CSAVR to continue to support VR’s full participation as a mandatory partner in the WIA.
Administrative Costs
When WIA was authorized, it was the intent of Congress that mandatory partners contribute resources to the system consistent with the partners authorizing legislation.
CSAVR fully supports the cost-allocation methodology that is currently defined in the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s (DOL/ETA) Final notice entitled “Resource Sharing for Workforce Investment Act One-Stop Centers: Methodologies for Paying or Funding Each Partner Program’s Fair Share of Allocable One-Stop Costs (published in the Federal Register on May 31, 2001), and the DOL/ETA’s “One-Stop Comprehensive Financial Management Technical Assistance Guide” (dated July 2002), rather than any efforts or prescribed methods to garner additional resources from the VR program other than cost-allocation. This method of sharing resources allows mandatory partners to contribute their fair share to the support of the system, based on utilization and benefit to their individual customers.
State Workforce Investment Boards
The State Workforce Investment Boards have the responsibility for development of the State Plan and continuous improvement of a statewide system of activities that assure coordination and non-duplication among the programs authorized under the WIA. It was the intent of Congress that the lead State Agency officials with responsibility for the programs and activities of mandatory partners be voting members of the State Workforce Boards. The CSAVR believes that, in order for VR services to have a significant impact on workforce investment activities that could potentially increase the employment, retention and earnings of persons with disabilities, both the State VR Director, and the Director of the State Agency for the Blind, in states that have a separate State Agency for the Blind, must be voting members of the State Workforce Boards.
Local Workforce Investment Boards
Currently, WIA requires Local Workforce Investment Boards (Local WIBS) to include representatives of local community-based organizations (including organizations representing individuals with disabilities and veterans). As a result of this requirement, many Local WIBs include representatives of the Public VR program and individuals with disabilities. CSAVR is aware that H.R 1261 proposes to remove this requirement. With regard to this provision, the CSAVR supports current law, as numerous decisions on how funding is directed and the types of services offered in the local area are determined by the Local WIB. Without such input, there would be no way to ensure that the needs of individuals with disabilities would have any representation at the local level.
Accessibility
In order for persons with disabilities to benefit from services provided through the One-Stop Centers, they must have full and complete access to the array of services offered by One-Stop Centers. Section 188 of the WIA requires physical, communication, and program accessibility for persons with disabilities within the workforce investment system, including all comprehensive centers and affiliated sites. While progress has occurred in making Centers physically accessible, there are still numerous concerns across states with the lack of program accessibility for persons with disabilities. The CSAVR supports VR’s participation or co-location in any center that is both physically and programmatically accessible to persons with disabilities as required under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The CSAVR further recommends that One Stop Centers be certified with respect to compliance with the requirements of Title 1 of the ADA by a qualified entity. The CSAVR does not support the use of VR funds for One-Stop Centers to address their legal responsibilities to assure physical, communication, and program accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Qualified Personnel
The WIA intended to create access to a range of training, education and employment programs within the One-Stop system in a manner that is comprehensive, customer focused, and seamless. Individuals with disabilities, however, have multiple service needs that are dependent upon coordination among multiple partners within and outside the One-Stop system. Individuals who provide and make the determination of the need for comprehensive services for individuals with disabilities, must be individuals who have been appropriately and adequately trained and possess sufficient skills, abilities, knowledge, and expertise to make such determinations. Therefore, the CSAVR supports the provision of services to persons with disabilities by qualified personnel as outlined in the Rehabilitation Act under the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development.
Performance Accountability
The WIA establishes a performance accountability system to assess the effectiveness of state and local areas in continuously improving workforce investment activities. The WIA specifies core indicators of performance that apply to the general Title 1 program. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) created common performance measures for all programs authorized under the WIA, four of which apply to adult services, including VR services.
Issues and concerns have been raised by a number of partners about the disincentives to provide services to persons with disabilities in the workforce investment system, based upon current performance measures. There is a perception, which in some cases is true, that individuals with significant disabilities who face multiple barriers to employment may require more services and be more costly to serve than other individuals. As a result, one-stop operators may be reluctant to register and serve persons with disabilities.
The CSAVR fully supports performance accountability. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1972 requires the Rehabilitation Services Administration to establish standards and indicators to judge the performance of State VR agencies on the provision of services and the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities. The application of any performance measures that unfairly compare the cost and provision of services to persons with disabilities to the cost and provision of services to persons without disabilities is inappropriate and misleading.
Consumer Focus
The planning and implementation of WIA must continue to provide adequate opportunities for the effective and meaningful involvement of people with disabilities as consumers in the State Plan process, in the conduct of public hearings, and in the functioning, evaluation and implementation of the WIA.
Emphasis on Informed Choice
The CSAVR believes that the WIA must continue to emphasize informed choice throughout all programs and services within WIA. Each individual with a disability must continue to have an informed choice in the selection of his/her vocational goal/employment outcome; in the services and supports needed to accomplish the individual’s chosen vocation goal/employment outcome; and in the providers of those services.
