American Rehab ACTion Network
www.americanrehabaction.org
Rich Gardner, President
Statement for the Record on the Randolph-Sheppard and Javits-Wagner-O’Day Programs United States Senate HELP Committee October 31, 2005
The American Rehab ACTion Network (ARAN) is an organization of public and private professionals, educators, persons with disabilities and their families, friends, and businesses, working together to positively affect the public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program.
ARAN thanks the HELP Committee for this opportunity to express its support for the Randolph-Sheppard and Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) programs. These programs provide essential services to individuals with disabilities, which can not be supplanted by other comparable services. Many individuals with significant disabilities can not achieve employment without provision of an array of rehabilitation and vocational services. ARAN urges the Committee not to modify the Randolph-Sheppard and JWOD programs without full participation of consumers and other stakeholders in assessing their benefits, costs, efficiencies, and deficiencies, and the implications of proposed changes for other programs, including the public Vocational Rehabilitation program.
Vocational Rehabilitation programs are highly effective in helping persons with disabilities achieve competitive, community integrated employment. A Congressionally-mandated, three year longitudinal study of the VR program carried out by the Research Triangle Institute showed that 69% of VR consumers achieved an employment outcome as a result of VR services. 75% of consumers receiving VR services achieved jobs in the competitive labor market. Of this population, 83% remained employed after one year. Among individuals completing VR services, 44% no longer required public assistance.
ARAN appreciates the attention of the HELP Committee and its commitment to strengthening employment opportunities for people with disabilities. ARAN would like to express the following concerns related to the Committee’s investigation and report:
1. Quality and Extent of Federal Oversight is Lacking
The Committee report found a significant lack of information, data, and oversight of Randolph-Sheppard and JWOD programs on the part of the Department of Education. ARAN is concerned that recent, substantial reductions in the numbers of experienced, qualified staff at the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) will further weaken the Department’s ability to offer effective and comprehensive technical assistance to, and oversight of, state VR agencies and the programs they administer. ARAN believes that a strong RSA, headed by a Commissioner who demonstrates knowledge and expertise of vocational rehabilitation services and staffed by experienced personnel in sufficient numbers to provide assistance and demand accountability, is the best tool to improve performance in job training programs for individuals with disabilities. This level of knowledge of and expertise in employment services for persons with disabilities is not evidenced by current Department of Education staffing plans.
2. The Demands on the Public VR System are Increasing
The number of families/individuals on welfare has declined by approximately 40% since 1996. As states move deeper into their TANF caseloads, they are finding substantial numbers of individuals with unidentified or undisclosed disabilities facing barriers to employment. State welfare agencies are increasingly turning to VR agencies for assistance in getting these individuals into the workforce.
Similarly, heightened efforts are being made to coordinate VR services with schools to serve students with disabilities who are transitioning from special education and dependency on public benefits to work. The return on the federal investment in special education can only be maximized with a strong public VR program that is able to serve these youth. This population of transitioning youth now represents 13.5% of the consumers participating in VR services.
Given adequate resources, the public VR program can serve these young people very successfully and cost-effectively. Sixty-three percent of young adults below age 25 who received VR services successfully went to work, with most entering competitive employment. Young adults with disabilities entering competitive employment had a significantly reduced need for public financial assistance, such as SSI benefits.
3. The Public VR Program is Severely Underfunded
VR is a cost-effective program, and every dollar invested in it returns more than $10 in consumer employment taxes paid and reduced reliance on public financial assistance. The reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, and the new challenges of the changing environment mentioned above, place increasing demands on the VR program. The resources available to VR to meet these challenges are not keeping pace. Appropriated federal funding, matched with state monies, is adequate to meet the needs of only one in 20 individuals with disabilities who could benefit from Vocational Rehabilitation. While VR caseloads have increased, and the cost of providing its services has grown substantially, its funding has gone up only as much as the consumer price index. As the demands on VR rise, its funding is severely lagging behind the real cost of providing services to its growing population.