Benjamin Collins
Analyst in Labor Policy
Vocational rehabilitation (VR) state grants provide funds to state and territorial agencies to administer services to individuals with disabilities to aid them in securing and maintaining employment. States are required to match a portion of their federal grants. The VR grants program is administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), part of the Department of Education (ED).
To be eligible for VR services, an individual must establish that (1) he or she has a disability that creates an obstacle to employment and (2) he or she would benefit from VR services. After qualifying for VR services, each client works with a VR counselor to develop an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). The IPE defines the client’s desired employment outcome and outlines the services necessary to achieve that outcome.
To meet the objective stated in a client’s IPE, a VR agency can coordinate a variety of services. These can range from simpler services such as job search assistance to more complex job training or postsecondary education. VR agencies can also provide support services that aid a client’s progress toward employment, such as transportation subsidies or reader services for clients with visual impairments. In all cases, a client must exhaust all other applicable government assistance before a VR agency will pay for a service.
In cases where a state anticipates that it will not be able to serve all eligible individuals, it must notify RSA that it will implement an order of selection plan. This plan establishes which individuals will receive preference if the state agency is unable to serve all eligible clients. ED dictates that agencies must first serve individuals with the most significant disabilities, but defining the most significant disabilities is left to the state agencies.
VR grants are supported through mandatory appropriations. Authorization for the VR grant program expired after FY2003. The program’s authorizing legislation specifies that if the authorization for appropriations has expired and Congress has taken no action, the program will automatically be reauthorized for the subsequent year and the appropriation for the program will equal the prior year’s appropriation plus an increase equal to inflation. The program has operated under these provisions since FY2004.
Since the expiration of authorization of appropriations after FY2003, the reauthorization of the VR state grants program has been debated as a part of a package to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). While bills have made legislative progress in several Congresses, no consensus has emerged.
Congress appropriated $3.1 billion for VR grants to states in FY2013. In FY2011, the most recent year for which program data are available, more than 1 million individuals had contact with a state or territorial VR agency and agencies reported more than 178,000 successful employment outcomes. At the end of FY2011, about 34,000 individuals were on VR waiting lists.
Date of Report: June 26, 2013
Number of Pages: 23
Order Number: R42148
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