Government Creates Training Center to Train the Trainers
Published Date: 1/17/2025
Proposed Rule
Summary
The Department of Education wants to set new rules to fund a national center that helps state vocational rehab workers get better training and support. This will improve how they help people with disabilities find and keep jobs. Comments on these plans are open until February 18, 2025, and the changes could start in fiscal year 2025 with federal funding backing the effort.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
New National VR Training Center
The Department of Education proposes funding a National Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center (NVRTAC) through a cooperative agreement to be used in FY 2025 and later. The NVRTAC would provide training and technical assistance to State VR agencies and their staff to upgrade competencies, skills, and knowledge to improve program management and employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
Training to Reduce Unused Federal VR Funds
The NVRTAC would provide intensive training and technical assistance on financial and resource management so State VR agencies can better use Federal funds and meet fiscal compliance. The document cites that in FY 2022 State VR agencies returned $88,000,000 in unused Title I funds and $3,200,000 in unused Title VI funds, and that as of March 2024 thirty-one of 78 VR agencies were on corrective action plans.
Expanded Training on Employment Supports
The NVRTAC would develop and deliver targeted and universal training and materials for VR personnel on topics including assistive technology and artificial intelligence, career pathways and apprenticeships (including STEM), supported and customized employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship, benefits counseling, and use of ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts. These trainings are explicitly aimed at improving services for students and youth with disabilities, individuals with significant disabilities, and traditionally underserved populations.
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Key Dates
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