The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Ref. H.R. 803

1
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
ActRef. H.R. 803

• Rochelle Daniels, Attorney/Consultant
• 5301 North 36th Court
• Hollywood, FL 33021
• 954 205 3582

2
What Does USDOL Say?

• They are in a listening mode
• Signed into law July 22, 2014, WIOA reaffirms
  Congress support of the one-stop system
• Law is to be implemented beginning July 1, 2015
• State plans due 2016
• USDOL is looking for early implementation states
• Florida wants to be an early implementation state

3
What is covered by WIOA?

• Replaces the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
  Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth
• Amends Wagner Peyser
• Amends Adult and Family Literacy Education Act
• Amends the Rehabilitation Act
• The above programs are called the core programs

4
What is covered by WIOA?

• Authorizes
• Job Corps
• YouthBuild
• Indian and Native American Programs
• Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker
• DOL Evaluation and Research Activities

5
Questions to keep in mind

• Transition provisions in the areas of
• Board membership
• Board Committees
• Regionalism
• Performance
• In school youth programs
• Out of school youth programs
• Expenditure of youth funds pursuant to new
  guidelines
• Selection of one-stop operators
• Eligible training providers

6
What are we going to talk about?

• The state role
• Local area designation and regionalism
• Local board responsibilities
• One stop activities and organization
• The new performance measures
• Eligible training providers
• Changes to youth programs

7
WIOA Highlights - USDOL

• There is a strong emphasis on coordination and
  integration among workforce programs
• Intake
• Case management
• Reporting systems
• Incorporates
• Sector strategies,
• Career pathways,
• Regionalism

8
WIOA Highlights

• States are required to align workforce programs
• Promotes accountability and transparency
• Fosters regional collaboration
• Streamlines and strengthens the strategic role of
  workforce boards

9
Observation

• Minimal streamlining or consolidation
• Mostly discretionary grants which went away
• Coordination is left to
• The governor
• The state board
• Local boards
• Much more detail and direction than was written
  into WIA regarding
• Structure and content of state and local plans
• Functions of state and local boards
• Performance reports

10
Observation

• Governors have much more latitude than under WIA
• The local delivery system is written into the
  statute but may not continue as currently
  structured
• Existing local areas can ask for designation
• The state board may subdivide the state into
  regions
• The governor/state board can assign an area to a
  region
• If assigned regional planning will be required
• If regional planning agreements cannot be reached
  all bets are off on maintaining local boundaries

11
State Boards

• Majority private sector
• Member of each House
• 20 Organized Labor Apprenticeship
• Optional CBOs serving those with barriers and
  Youth
• Lead Officials of Core Programs
• Chief Elected Officials
• Others selected by the Governor
• No Double Hatting

12
State Plan

• Every 4 years
• Updated every 2 years
• The plan must be a unified plan for the 4 core
  programs
• Can be a combined plan with respect to the one
  stop partners
• Much more detailed than WIA
• Recognizes the employer as a customer

13
Local Area - Initial Designation

• The Governor must approve requests for initial
  designation
• For the first 2 full program years
• 2015 2016
• 2016 - 2017
• From any area designated under WIA
• That met performance and sustained fiscal
  integrity
• For the 2 years preceding the date of
  enactment of the Act

14
Subsequent Designation Local Areas

• After the 2 year initial designation
• The Governor must approve
• Requests for subsequent designation from any
  local area
• That performed successfully
• Sustained fiscal integrity
• In the case of a local area in a planning region,
  the region met the requirements for regional
  planning

15
REGIONAL PLANNING

• If assigned to a region
• Local boards and chief elected officials in the
  planning region must prepare and agree to a
  single regional plan that includes
• Regional service strategies
• Use of cooperative service delivery agreements
• Sector initiatives for in-demand industry sectors
  for the region
• Collection and analysis of regional labor market
  data
• Administrative cost arrangements, including
  pooling funds for administrative costs, as
  appropriate for the region

16
Local Boards
17
Local Board 19 or 22

• Private sector chair
• Smaller
• Majority private sector
• Core partners (4)
• 20
• Required Labor, representative of joint labor
  management, apprenticeship
• Optional CBOs
• Serving youth
• Individuals with barriers to employment
• Serving veterans
• Serving individuals with disabilities

18
Local Boards

• A representative of eligible providers
  administering adult education and literacy
• A representative of institutions of higher
  education - community colleges
• May include representatives of local educational
  agencies, and of community-based organizations
  with experience serving education or training
  needs of individuals with barriers to employment

19
Local Boards

• Representatives of government, economic and
  community development entities
• A representative of economic and community
  development entities
• A representative from the State employment
  service under the Wagner-Peyser
• A representative of the programs carried out
  under title I of the Rehabilitation Act
• May include representatives of
• Entities administering transportation, housing,
  and public assistance programs
• Philanthropic organizations
• Appointments by the chief local elected official

20
Standing Committees

• It appears that the law suggests 3 standing
  committees
• One Stop
• Youth may be the current youth council
• Disabilities
• However language in the bill states if
  appointed wait for the regulations to see if
  mandated

21
Local Board Responsibilities

• The local plan in partnership with the chief
  elected official
• Analyses of the economic conditions in the
  region
• Lead employer engagement efforts
• Develop and implement career pathways together
  with secondary and postsecondary education
• Conduct oversight in partnership with the chief
  elected official over programs and funds
• Negotiate performance

22
Local Board Responsibilities

• Designate, certify and terminate one-stop
  operators with the agreement of the chief elected
  official
• Identify eligible youth providers based on the
  recommendations of the youth standing committee
  if established
• identify eligible training providers
• If the one-stop operator does not provide career
  services, select providers for those services

23
Local Board Responsibilities

• Develop a budget subject to the approval of the
  chief elected official.
• Solicit and accept grants and donations from
  sources other than Federal funds
• Annually assess the one stop

24
Youth

• Youth Funds
• Still formula allocated to local areas
• Must spend 75 of the funds on out of school
  youth
• For small areas there will only be out of school
  programs
• Relaxed income eligibility
• Requirement to spend 20 of youth funds on work
  experience

25
Youth

• Simplifies Income Eligibility for Out of School
  Youth
• Includes Free or Reduced Lunch as part of the
  definition of low-income individual
• Special rule allows eligibility based on where
  youth live - i.e. from high poverty areas
• Out- of School youth up to 24 years
• 75 of funds must be spent on out of school youth
  
• Programs must be procured
• Requires that 20 of be spent on work
  experience

26
IN-SCHOOL YOUTH Ref 129(a)(1)(c)

• A youth attending school as defined by State
  law, and
• 14 - 21 unless they are disabled attending
  school under State law
• Is low-income , and has one of the following
  barriers
• Basic skills deficient
• An English language learner
• An offender
• Homeless individual as defined by
• Violence Against Women Act
• The McKinney-Vento Homeless Act
• A runaway
• In foster care or has aged out of the foster
  care system
• Eligible for foster care or in an out-of-home
  placement.
• Pregnant or parenting
• A youth who is an individual with a
  disability
• An individual who requires additional
  assistance to complete an educational
  program or to secure or hold employment.

27
OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH Ref. 129(a)(1)(B)

• Not attending any school (as defined under State
  law)
• 16 to 24 and one of the following
• A school dropout no longer attending any school
• A youth who is an age of compulsory attendance,
  but has not attended school for the last school
  ¼
• A recipient of a HS diploma or GED who is a
  low-income individual and

• A homeless youth as defined in the
  Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance act
• Foster care or aged out of foster care
• Eligible for foster care or in an out-of-home
  placement
• Requires additional assistance to enter or
  complete an education program or to secure or
  hold employment

• Basic skills deficient
• An English language learner
• Subject to the juvenile or adult justice system
• Homeless (as defined in the violence against
  women act of 1994)
• Pregnant or parenting
• Has a disability
• A runaway

28
PROGRAM ELEMENTS

• Program services provided must support
• Attainment of a HS diploma or its equivalent
• Entry into postsecondary education
• Career readiness

29
WIOA Highlights

• Enhances services to job seekers and employers
• Provides access to high quality training
• Promotes work-based training
• Reinforces connections with registered
  apprenticeship programs
• Heavy emphasis on services to out of school youth
• Emphasizes the importance of services to the
  disabled
• Improves services to employers
• Increases performance of Job Corps

30
Some Observations

• One stop partners
• Are not exactly the same
• Most one stop partners are not on the local board
• The one stop system is firmly entrenched as a
  path to employment
• Infrastructure costs
• Negotiated, or
• Determined in accordance with formulas set in
  legislation
• A lot of emphasis on service to individuals with
  barriers, disabilities and ex-offenders

31
One Stop Partners

• Adds TANF
• Adds Ex Offender Programs
• Current required partners
• Suggests
• The Small Business Administration
• Ticket to Work
• SNAP Food Stamps
• National Community Service Act
• Governors can write to the appropriate Secretary
  explaining why a funding stream is not an
  appropriate partner

32
WIOA Highlights

• New oversight for one-stops
• One-stops will have to be recertified every 3
  years
• Continuous improvement
• Physical and program access for individuals with
  disabilities
• In person and virtual services
• Integrated service delivery
• Infrastructure funding
• Common brand American Job Centers

33
One Stop

• Combines core and intensive services
• Career services
• Old core services
• Greatly expanded
• Requires the Employment Service to co-locate
• Infrastructure costs
• Partners can agree on infrastructure costs or
• Use formula administrative funds
• described in the law governing their programs

34
WIOA Highlights

• Unemployment Insurance services, information and
  claims are to be provided through the one-stop
• USDOL, an advisory council, other federal
  agencies and states are to work and improve the
  labor market information system
• A Native American Council shall make
  recommendations to USDOL on their programs

35
WIOA Highlights Adult Literacy

• The programs will be a part of the Unified State
  Plan
• Must align content standards for adult education
  with state academic standards
• Must plan on funding programs for corrections
  education, English literacy and civics education,
  and integrated education and training
• Must assess adult education providers
• Will be subject to new measures

36
Observations - Performance

• Performance measures are changing
• The three common measures are replaced with six
  measures
• They apply to all the core programs
• Adults, Dislocated Worker, Youth
• Wagner Peyser
• Adult Literacy
• Vocational Rehabilitation
• There is an employer measure still to be
  developed

37
The Measures - State and LocalAll Core Programs

• PLACEMENT The of participants in unsubsidized
  employment in the 2nd quarter after exit
• RETENTION The of participants in unsubsidized
  employment during the 4th quarter after exit
• WAGE The median earnings of participants in
  unsubsidized employment the second quarter after
  exit
• The of participants obtaining a
  postsecondary credential, or a HS school diploma
  /GED during the program or within 1 year after
  exit and are placed or go into post secondary
  training
• The of participants in an education or
  training program for a postsecondary credential
  or employment and who are achieving measurable
  skill gains toward such a credential or
  employment and
• The indicators of effectiveness in serving
  employers to be developed by the Secretaries of
  Labor and Education

38
The Measures State and Local -Youth

• PLACEMENT the of participants in education,
  training or jobs, during the 2nd quarter after
  exit
• RETENTION the of participants in education,
  training or jobs, the 4th quarter after exit
  and
• WAGE The median earnings of participants in
  unsubsidized employment the 2nd quarter after
  exit
• The of participants obtaining a
  postsecondary credential, or a HS diploma /GED
  in the program or within 1 year after exit who
  ALSO are placed or go into post secondary
  training
• The of participants in education or
  training for a postsecondary credential or
  employment and who are achieving measurable skill
  gain
• Effectiveness in serving employers developed by
  the Secretaries of Labor and Education

39
Factors Impacting Measures

• There is the opportunity for a regression model
  to be incorporated
• How will it work?
• States may petition for performance relief
• Expected economic conditions
• Expected participant characteristics
• Using the statistical adjustment model developed
  by the feds
• Actual economic conditions
• Actual characteristics of the populations served

40
The Employer Measure

• Under WIA employer satisfaction
• Common Measures
• Placement
• Retention
• Wage
• Subset of Wagner Peyser measures
• The number of Job Postings / Job Orders
• Reemployment services for unemployed workers
• Staff assisted services - job search
• Matching assistance

41
The Employer Measure

• This measure is to be determined.
• As employers what would be a fair evaluation of
  whether services provided to employers are of
  value?
• What recommendations should we make?

42
Observations

• The Congress wants to know what they want to
  know!
• Required state, local and eligible provider
  reports
• Information in addition to the measures
• May drive funding and performance decisions
• Monetary sanctions for state failure to meet
  performance or submit reports

43
State and Local Reports

• The total of participants served by each Core
  program
• The of participants receiving
• Career (old intensive) services
• Training services
• The amount of funds spent on each type of service
• The number of participants who exit from career
  and training services

44
State and Local Reports

• The average cost per participant who received
  training
• The of participants
• Who received training services and
• Obtained training related jobs
• With barriers to employment served
• by each Core programs
• by each subpopulation
• The of participants enrolled in more than 1
  Core program
• The of the State and local allotment spent on
  administrative costs
• Where possible, employers and participant
  satisfaction
• Other information that compares
• States to other states and
• Local areas to local areas

45
Eligible Training Providers

• Similar to current law
• Must provide recognized credentials in in-demand
  occupations
• Gives local boards more authority in working with
  the providers
• Allows governor or local boards to increase OJT
  to 75

46
Funds

• Administration is still limited to 10
• No real definition
• Look to the regulations
• Retains 10 hold harmless
• Bill contains recommended levels of
  appropriations
• Returns 15 funds to the states
• 100 transferability between Adult and dislocated
  worker

47
In summary

• From the USDOL WIOA
• Aligns federal investments to support job seekers
  and employers
• Strengthens the governing bodies that establish
  state, regional and local workforce investment
  priorities
• Helps employers find workers with the necessary
  skills
• Aligns goals and increases accountability and
  information for job seekers and the public
• Fosters regional collaboration to meet the needs
  of regional economies
• Targets workforce services to better serve job
  seekers
• Improves services to individuals with
  disabilities