Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the Department of Education and with my colleague Emily DeRocco, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training. She and I have been working together to ensure that the workforce investment system provides accessible, effective, and appropriate job training and employment services to all individuals, including those with disabilities.

The New Freedom Initiative (NFI) was one of the very first policy statements released by the President in his Administration. A major goal of the NFI is increasing the ability of Americans with disabilities to integrate into the workforce. Although many people with disabilities are obtaining jobs and remaining employed, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is still unacceptably high. The reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) provides an opportunity to strengthen and improve programs that will play an important role in improving employment and community integration outcomes for individuals with disabilities, to help fulfill the President’s NFI vision. Employment is vital to full participation in so many other important aspects of American life.

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) State Grants program, administered by the Department of Education, is the primary Federal vehicle for assisting individuals with disabilities, particularly individuals with the most significant disabilities, to prepare for, obtain, or retain employment consistent with their capabilities, interests, and informed choice. In 2004, this $2.7 billion program will provide a wide range of services to assist over 243,000 individuals with disabilities to obtain and retain employment.

The VR State Grants program is currently a mandatory partner in the local one-stop service delivery systems established under WIA. WIA’s one-stop system connects employment, education, and training services into a coherent network of resources designed to help individuals obtain jobs and assist employers to find qualified employees. Many of the individuals who are unemployed and seeking assistance at the one-stop centers are people with disabilities. The New Freedom Initiative released by the President in 2001 notes that the unemployment rate of the 54 million adults with disabilities continues to be 70 percent, and this rate has not changed in the last decade.

As partners in the one-stop center, State VR programs have contributed significantly to the enhancement of the one-stop system and the expansion of its capabilities. State VR agencies provide expertise relating to the needs of people with disabilities in many of the local workforce areas. Participation of VR agencies has also been instrumental in creating an awareness of its consumer population among other partners.

In addition to providing assistance in evaluating and monitoring the accessibility of one-stop centers, local VR programs through their mandatory partnerships continue to be instrumental in training other partner programs and their staffs concerning the specialized assistance many people with disabilities need to become employable and maintain employment. Although one-stop centers have made progress in modifying their programs and facilities, barriers still remain and the level of physical and programmatic accessibility varies widely among centers. Barriers to technology, such as the availability of appropriate computerized information systems, present an even larger challenge in most centers. We are committed to working with our partners to ensure that individuals with disabilities can participate fully in the one-stop system, allowing them to obtain competitive meaningful integrated employment.

The one-stop system facilitates access to the services provided by the VR program. There are some individuals with disabilities who, with accommodations or modifications, can take advantage of the services one-stop centers offer as intended in the WIA. However, there are many individuals with disabilities, particularly individuals with significant disabilities, whose complex needs require the expertise and specialized services of the State VR program. Most of the people served through the VR program, about 87 percent in 2002, are individuals with significant disabilities. The largest category of VR consumers is persons with mental or cognitive disabilities. Due to their complex needs, they require specialized services such as various therapeutic services, adaptive technology or transportation devices, sign language interpretation and instruction, communication aids, personal assistance services, mobility training, and accommodations for workplace, self, or home employment. The State VR program has an 80-year history of providing a wide range of rehabilitation, training, employment, placement and other more specialized services to individuals with disabilities.

VR agency staff members and their community-based providers receive specialized training and have tremendous collective expertise in assessing the comprehensive rehabilitation needs of people with disabilities and in providing individualized programs of vocational rehabilitation services to address those needs.

Given these specialized services, the cost of serving these individuals is typically higher than the cost of serving individuals with less significant disabilities. Because of resource limitations, nearly one-half of all State VR agencies are operating under an "order of selection." Under an order of selection, if a State VR agency cannot serve all eligible persons, it must serve first those individuals with the most significant disabilities.

Our partnership in WIA allows greater access to the traditional employment and training resources of one-stop centers for those individuals with less significant disabilities who might otherwise be forced to wait for services, or not receive any services. The VR program has also benefited from closer coordination and collaboration among related workforce programs and services and from increased exposure to an array of additional service providers and resources (such as the Individualized Training Accounts).

The Department of Labor will be proposing changes to WIA that will strengthen the role of the State Workforce Investment Board in the management and the coordination of services within each State. Despite its significant size and the unique needs of its consumers, many State VR programs have had only indirect representation on State Workforce Investment Boards as a part of a larger "umbrella" agency. We believe the VR program and the specialized employment needs of individuals with disabilities must be directly represented, particularly if the State Board is to have an enhanced management role.

We must all work together to increase the participation of individuals in the competitive labor market employment. I look forward to working with members of this committee and my WIA partners to improve the workforce investment system so that it can provide accessible, effective, and appropriate services to all individuals, including those with disabilities.

Thank you. I would be pleased to answer any questions.