January 9, 2004
The Honorable Arlen Specter, Chairman
Subcommittee
on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education
Senate
Appropriations Committee
184 Senate Dirksen Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Chairman Specter:
I am
writing on behalf of the Council of State Administrators of
Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) to request consent to have a
witness chosen by CSAVR to provide testimony on the Public VR
Program in the upcoming hearing on the FY 2005 appropriations
for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education. The CSAVR is composed of the chief administrators of
the Public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies serving
individuals with physical and mental disabilities in the states,
District of Columbia, and the territories. These agencies
constitute the state partners in the State-Federal,
public-private partnership referred to as the Public VR Program.
The Public VR Program is one of the most cost effective
programs ever created by Congress. In any given year, State VR
agencies nationwide provide services and supports to more than
1.4 million individuals with disabilities who are trying to
overcome barriers to employment. Of those served each year, more
than 220,000 are placed in competitive employment. The basic
funding mechanism for the program, which requires a state match
of 21.3 percent, creates a state-federal partnership that has
worked well for over 83 years and has assisted more than 14
million individuals with disabilities to go to work and become
tax-paying citizens.
The Rehabilitation Act mandates
that the annual Federal appropriation for the VR program grow at
a rate at least equal to the change in the Consumer Price Index
(CPI) over the previous fiscal year. While this mandate was
intended to create a floor for the VR appropriation, Congress
has not appropriated funds above the mandated CPI increase for a
number of years.
Unfortunately, a number of external
forces have exacerbated the challenges resulting from the
insufficiency of VR’s federal funds. First and foremost are the
challenges facing VR agencies as they try to address the needs
of ever increasing numbers of special education students who are
leaving the education system and seeking vocational
rehabilitation services to go to work. Between 1994 and 2004,
the federal appropriation for special education increased by
approximately 390 percent. During the same period, the federal
appropriation for the Public VR Program increased by less than
30 percent.
Chairman Spector, the VR agency in
Pennsylvania served 83,273 individuals with disabilities during
FY 2003, placing 10,628 of those served in competitive
employment. Approximately 34 percent of those served and those
placed in employment during FY 2003 were transition age students
with disabilities. There are reportedly 551 high schools in
Pennsylvania providing educational services to approximately
134,124 students with disabilities ages 12 to 21. Proposed
amendments to the transition provisions in the Rehabilitation
Act (i.e., in S. 1627, S. 1248 and H.R. 1261) would
significantly increase VR responsibilities with regard to
serving transition age students with disabilities without
providing any new federal funding. CSAVR fears that these
increased responsibilities without an accompanying increase in
federal funding will only increase the expectations of students
with disabilities and their families for services that State VR
agencies will not be able to provide. While CSAVR supports
expanding VR’s role in transition services, such an expansion
must be accompanied by a significant increase in VR’s
appropriation or State VR agencies will be forced to divert
funds from serving adults with disabilities to serving youth
with disabilities.
In addition, if the infrastructure
funding provisions proposed in the pending bills to reauthorize
the Workforce Investment Act (S. 1627 and H.R. 1261) become law,
State VR agencies will be forced to divert funds away from
serving individuals with disabilities to supporting the
infrastructure costs of the One-Stop service delivery system.
CSAVR is particularly concerned about such a diversion of funds
given that a significant number of One-Stop Centers continue to
be inaccessible to individuals with disabilities.
In
1999, the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act
authorized a new Social Security program to address the
employment and training needs of beneficiaries with
disabilities. State VR agencies are currently receiving 85 to 90
percent of the ticket assignments and have had to dedicate
significant resources to implementing this program without any
increase in federal funds.
As a result of insufficient
funding and the impact of these and other external challenges on
the resources of the Public VR Program, more that 35 State VR
agencies have implemented an order of selection, i.e., a process
whereby individuals with the most significance disabilities are
served first and others are placed on a waiting list.
Please let us know at your earliest convenience whether a CSAVR
witness will be permitted to testify during the Labor, HHS, and
Education Appropriations Hearing which will likely be scheduled
in February or March. If you have any questions about the Public
VR Program or about CSAVR, please feel free to call me at (301)
654-8414.
Sincerely,
Carl Suter
Executive Director
