What's Up with WIOA - Episode2

Elizabeth D: / Hi there. I'm Elizabeth Danner, Transition Specialist with Region 13, and I'm here with Erin Wilder, the Statewide Transition Specialist for the artist formerly known as DARS. Today, we're going to be talking about several things. The first question that I have for Erin is what's up with the switch to Texas Workforce Commission? Can you tell us what do we call you now and what's going on with the artist formerly known as DARS?
Erin Wilder: / Well, sure. On September 1st, DARS was abolished and some of the pieces of it went to Health and Human Services and some of them went to the Texas Workforce Commission. The Vocational Rehab Program was basically picked up and moved under The Texas Workforce Commission. The name for our division or department is Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational Rehabilitation Services or Vocational Rehab or just VR for short.
Elizabeth D: / That's what I've been calling you, so that's okay? If I say VR ...
Erin Wilder: / Yeah. Absolutely. You say VR, we know who you're talking about. We are officially part of The Texas Workforce Commission at this point. Most of the offices are still in the same places and that's going to be changing some as leases expire and that kind of thing. Eventually, all of the field staff will be housed in the Workforce Centers.
Elizabeth D: / From the school perspective, they'll still have a contact assigned to their campus. Every campus should know who their VR contact is and what is that contact called? What is that person called?
Erin Wilder: / They're still called the Vocational Rehab counselor or you could just say your counselor. If they're coming to you in the schools, then you may not even be aware of their office move. They'll continue to do that. Those assignments have not changed except as they normally would with things like turnover and that kind of thing. Otherwise, they've stayed the same. If there has been a change, then someone will communicate that with you. I'm going to give my information at the end, so that if you ever have an open-ended question you're not sure how to answer, you can contact me and I'll help you find the answer.
Elizabeth D: / That'll be great. Schools can kind of expect the same kinds of service that they saw before. Just to say VR instead of DARS.
Erin Wilder: / Right. The Vocational Rehab Program itself hasn't changed at all as a result of the move to Texas Workforce Commission. It's pretty specifically laid out in federal law. Unless the federal law changes, I don't see a lot of changes coming from the program itself, but we are now part of a different agency.
Elizabeth D: / Perfect. Well, that leads me to my next question. Erin, what's up with WIOA?
Erin Wilder: / WIOA, just for those who aren't familiar, the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, was signed by President Obama in July of 2014, and for all of the titles, except for the one that significantly affected Vocational Rehab, they went into effect a year later. For us, Title IV, which is our title, went into effect immediately. It has started a world wind of change over the last couple of years that we're still very much trying to navigate. Basically, it requires that we spend 15% of our federal funds on the provision of five core services to students with disabilities. The five areas are career exploration, work-based learning, counseling on post secondary opportunities, job readiness, which includes social skills and independent living skills, training, and self advocacy. It's not new money. It's just sort of repurposing a portion of the money that we've always gotten. It's intended to be for students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible.
About a year after it was signed, the draft regs came out that gave us some guidance and then the final regs came out June 30th, but, in the time since June 30th, we have continued to get sort of little tricklings of information that gives us a little bit more information about what they meant in the final regs and that continues to happen. We're still figuring all this out. We're still figuring out how we need to change our policies. There's a very strong emphasis on collaboration around these services with the schools and I think we're all trying to navigate what that looks like, so that we're not stepping too far into IDEA responsibilities and the school's not stepping too far into VR responsibilities, but instead we can work together to best prepare the students we work with for life beyond high school.
Elizabeth D: / With this 15% funding, is the idea that it would supplement and not supplant the services that schools already provide?
Erin Wilder: / Yes. This focus that they've put on this money is intended to support and enhance what the schools already provide. What ends up happening a lot of times is there'll be an example of something that the school is saying, "We can't provide this or we won't for whatever reason," and they're always valid reasons. We're saying, "Well, we're not really sure how that fits in VR either," but we both acknowledge that it is in the best interest of the student to have that. If the counselor can show how that will support the student in acquiring the skills to be successful at work and to work towards their vocational goals, a lot of times we can say, "Okay, well how about if we do this piece of it and you do this piece of it," and we kind of just work together.
An example of that is job coaching for students who have been in support employment programs in the schools. Many times, what happens is those students have jobs that the schools have helped them get. They're getting credit. They've got the support that they need and then the job coaches go on summer break and nobody ...
Elizabeth D: / The student doesn't qualify for ESY.
Erin Wilder: / Right. Everybody acknowledges that it's not in the student's best interest to lose that job because they don't have the support they need. There have been many instances where we have paid for that support during the summer. We would call it work experience coaching, but it's the same thing. That way the student continues to have the support they need. It's just provided for the school year by the school and through the summer by us. Hopefully, that ultimately is an experience that helps the student gain some long-term employability skills.
Elizabeth D: / That's a helpful example because that's kind of what I'm hearing from the schools is questions about well how do we know if the student is eligible or potentially eligible. How do we know because we know if they're eligible for special eduction, but what does that eligibility look like and how would a school know?
Erin Wilder: / For Vocational Rehab, we have a set eligibility criteria and that hasn't changed at all as a result of any of this. Basically, you have to be a person with a disability. It can be physical or mental. It can even be diagnosed or undiagnosed when they first come to us. We have to be able to get documentation. For instance, if I'm a teacher and I recognize that there's something going on with a student and it's probably affecting them at school if I'm noticing it. It might be affecting them at home. It might be also something that I also recognize will effect them in a work-type environment. I could still refer that student even if they're not receiving special ed services and even if they've never been tested before, because if they can come to me or if you, as the teacher, can share the information that you recognize as happening with a student, then that will be a thing that prompts us most likely to send that student for some testing and see what happens.
There's not a set list of disabilities that we can or can't work with, but we need to be able to show that they have a physical or mental disability and that it constitutes an impediment to employment. That's kind of the other side of this, is sometimes we have people come to us who have long established disabilities, but they're doing great on their own and that's not a bad thing. They may not meet the second criteria, which is the vocational impediment piece. They have to be able to show that they have the disability, it's going to effect them at work, and they need to have a need for our services and be capable of working. If there's some question about whether or not a person is capable of working, we have some measures that we can go through to kind of give them an opportunity in a work environment to see how they do.
Elizabeth D: / If a school is thinking either they have a student or they have an idea for a way to collaborate with VR, not DARS, but VR, on something that they think might come under that WIOA umbrella, would they need to first talk to their VR counselor who's assigned to their campus?
Erin Wilder: / Yeah. I would start with a counselor. A lot of times, what happens is the counselor will have questions and then they'll come to me or they'll come to their Regional Transition Specialist and ask them questions and we'll kind of pass it around on our end to the people that can answer different types of questions. They might be related to purchasing or related to whatever aspect of that. Then, kind of come back together. It always starts with a proposal, even if it's pretty informal. If they can put down their ideas on paper, that helps us give other people within Texas Workforce Commission something to look at to say yes or no, or I would change this or that, or maybe add this, whatever it is. I want to back up for a second to the eligible, potentially eligible thing. First of all, when it comes to VR referral, I would say when in doubt, always refer. The worst that's going to happen is a counselor will say, "No, this isn't the appropriate program, but here are some others that might work for this person."
When it comes to potentially eligible, right now, what that means, and I imagine that this will evolve some over time, is if I, as the counselor, go into a classroom and talk with a student about let's say self advocacy or anything that falls in those five areas I mentioned. I can count my time because those students are going to meet the definition the law has for students with disabilities, and they are potentially eligible just by virtue of being individuals with disabilities. I can count my time towards that 15% requirement. There are some other things like if I'm at a job fair and I spend some time talking with some students with disabilities about something that falls into one of those five areas, I can count that time. It's those kinds of things right now. It's mostly related to counselor time.
If it gets to the point where I'm talking with a person and based on what they're telling me about their circumstances, I recognize that they are an appropriate VR referral, either because they told me they wanted to apply or because I've got enough information for them that I recognize that this program's a good match for them, then we can go ahead and initiate the referral process. That gets them into our system and takes them out of potentially eligible into applicant essentially. At that point, I could provide more services. Part of the reason they have to have a case is because, at this point, we don't have a mechanism for paid services if someone's not in our system. I think down the road that may change, but we're not there yet. It's going to be the kind of thing where they can only get certain kinds of services and up to a certain point as a person who's potentially eligible and then we'll want to move them into that referral process to keep things moving.
Elizabeth D: / That really helps clarify a lot. I have to say, thank you so much for taking the time today to help understand this. If our listeners have questions that you might be able to answer, how would they get in touch with you?
Erin Wilder: / The best way to get me, because I move around a lot and travel and I'm all over the place, is email and that's E-R-I-N W-I-L-D-E-R. My office number is 512-424-4048 and I will call you back there when I get your message. It just may take me a little bit longer to get back to you.
Elizabeth D: / Excellent. Well, thanks again for taking the time and we'll see you for the next podcast.
Erin Wilder: / Thanks.
Elizabeth D: / Thanks, Erin.
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