Transcript January 23-24, 2002 Leadership Meeting Ideas for Today and

Workforce Education and
Training Policies:
Current Federal Reauthorization Proposals
Job Opportunities Task Force
Baltimore, Maryland
April 23rd, 2003
Mission
The Workforce Alliance (TWA) is a
national coalition of local leaders
advocating for federal policies that invest in
the skills of America’s workers– including
those who are low-income, unemployed, or
seeking advancement– so they can better
support their families, and help American
businesses better compete in today’s
economy.
TWA’s Four-Point Platform
• Increase our Nation’s Investment in the Skills of
its Workforce
• Expand Access to Education & Training for All
Workers
• Measure Policies by their Success in Developing
Self-Sufficient Workers
• Promote and Reward Local Innovation
A Very Busy Year …
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
– Administration: DONE
– House: DONE (HR 4)
– Senate: Finance Committee (May-June?); Summer – Fall
* Current Law Extended Until June 30th
• Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
– Administration: March Framework; Senate Bill? (May)
– House: Education & Workforce Comm (HR 1261); Floor vote delayed
– Senate: HELP Committee (May-June?); Fall
• Higher Education Act (HEA) & Perkins Act
– Late 2003 / early 2004
• Ongoing Funding Battles
– Congress vs. Administration? (FY2004 Budget, Approps)
TWA’s Goals for Improving
TANF
• Allow a range of employment-connected education and
training activities—including post-secondary education—to
count as “work activities”
• Eliminate the 12-month limit vocational education
• Eliminate 30% cap on number of clients engaged in E & T
• Reward states for improving clients’ success in the labor
market (employment, retention, earnings gains) vs. for
reducing state caseloads
– TANF-WIA integration through performance measures (vs. “super
waivers”)
Competing TANF Proposals
Administration & House: HR 4
Passed February 2003; same as last year’s bill (HR 4737)
• Further limits on allowable work activities
• Raised required hours of work to 40
Highly prescriptive about what to for specific hours each
week
• Raised work participation rate to 70%
Double of most states
• No More than 4 months education / training
Competing TANF Proposals
Senate
Last session’s “Tri-Partisan” Finance Committee Bill
• 30 hours of work, with 24 in “work-focused” activities
• Raised work participation rate to 70%
• Allowed 24 months of vocational education
• Post-secondary as work activity for 10% of caseload; ABE as
work activity for up to 6 months
• Employment credit vs. caseload reduction credit
• $200 million Business Link Partnership grants
TWA’s Goals for Improving
WIA
• Invest in our Nation’s Workforce
– Protect and Expand WIA Funding
• Expand Access to Training (vs. current decreases)
– Relieve “infrastructure” vs. “training” competition for limited dollars
– Allow for a flexible “array” of services (core, intensive, training) vs. a
federally mandated sequence
• Easier for Effective Training Providers to Participate
– Reduce reporting burdens across federal programs, types of clients–
common performance measures (with diverse outcome expectations)
– Robust, cross-agency public tracking systems that relieve burdens on
individual training providers
TWA’s Goals for Improving
WIA
• State / Local Flexibility to Better Meet Local Conditions
– Fewer federal mandates on funding mechanisms (vouchers vs.
contracts), ETP requirements, etc.
– Ability to adjust “performance” for changed local economic conditions
– Federal prescriptions on “who,” but not on “how”
• More Meaningful Opportunities for Engaging Business
– WIBs are important, but should not be the only way
– Industry-specific planning efforts / intermediaries– in which business
collaborates with training providers, labor unions, public system
Competing WIA Proposals
• Administration: USDOL-ETA White Paper
– 10-pager, released March 7th, 2003
– Was to have followed last year’s forums, written comments
• House: HR 1261-- “Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act ”
– Passed out of Committee this week; floor vote in April (?)
• Senate: May - June 2003
– Legislative version of Administration’s proposal
– Democratic / Tri-partisan Alternative
USDOL / House Proposals
“Encouraging” Elements…
• Relaxed Sequence of Services (???)
– USDOL: generally stated
– House: “unlikely or unable to obtain suitable employment” (Governor)
• State Flexibility on ETP Lists
– Still need to address funding to encourage participation
– Tracking WIA clients or all clients (pro and con)
• Separate One-Stop Funding Stream; all agencies contribute
– USDOL: not specific; separate line in FY2004 budget request
– House: at State level
USDOL / House Proposals
“Encouraging” Elements…
• New Business Role on Local WIBs (strategy vs. administration)
– Local agencies sit on separate “Operating Committees”
– Agency concerns about being saddled with One-Stop costs, no authority
– Still too limited focus on WIBs vs. industries?
• Common Performance Measures (4 for Adults, across agencies)
– USDOL: employment, retention, earnings gains or credential (unclear)
– House: employment, retention, earnings gains
– BOTH: Efficiency Measure– Another “one size fits all” measure that
will force creaming or low-cost / low-skill strategies
USDOL / House Proposals
“Encouraging” Elements…
• Recognized Need to Better Serve Certain Workers
Incumbent Workers
– 10% of Local Adult Dollars (with Governor approval); good, but no
new money
At-Risk / Special Populations
– USDOL: “more dynamic performance negotiation process”
– House: Incentive Grants to States and Locals; expands “special
populations” to people with disabilites; * New amendments on
displaced homemakers; ex-offenders; demonstration program
– BOTH: Other proposal elements could work against serving people
with special needs (e.g., Efficiency Measure, Adult Block Grant)
USDOL / House Proposals
Bad Ideas…
• Consolidation of Adult, Dislocated Worker and
Employment Service dollars into new $3.1 billion
“Comprehensive Adult” block grant
– Ignores differences between different types of job-seekers
– Pits different types of workers against each other over limited funds
– Everyone served by stream for single set of outcome measures
• Transfers too much Authority from Locals to Governors
–
–
–
–
USDOL: 50/50 funding split; Governor determines allocation formula
House: 50/50 split (but half of Governor’s $ to locals for core services)
USDOL: Governors do local area designation; no appeal to USDOL
State WIB authority over Local One-Stops (allocation; certification)
USDOL / House Proposals
Bad Ideas…
• “State Option” to Block Grant WIA Entirely
– USDOL: Governor can choose to scrap WIA system, apply funds
however s/he wants within certain very broad guidelines (e.g. OneStops); without current statutory protections (e.g., FLSA)
– House: Does NOT include State Option Block Grant Authority
• Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs)
– USDOL: Part of proposal
– House: Been removed from WIA bill; will be introduced elsewhere?
(already passed under “Back to Work Incentive Act”)
USDOL / House Proposals
Other Details…
• Changes to State & Local WIB Composition (adult)
– USDOL: State WIBs not required business majority; partner agencies
– House: State WIBs retain business majority
– BOTH: Agencies off Local WIB (Operating Committees)
• ITAs to “Career Scholarships” (USDOL only)
– Combine public and private dollars
• New Priority for Unemployed Workers
– Vs. old “priority” on public assistance recipients
WIA Title II
Adult Education and Family Literacy
HR 1261; Dept. of Education expressed priorities (vs. budget request)
• *** Fewer Big Changes than under Title I
• Additional Performance Indicators
– Core Indicators: improved basic skills, transition to post-secondary
education, post-secondary credential or equivalent
– Employment Performance Indicators: employment, retention,
earnings gains; no efficiency measure
• Additional Emphasis on “Workplace Literacy”
– Distinct activity area, along with ABE, ESL and Family Literacy
WIA Title II
Adult Education and Family Literacy
• Additional “Eligible Providers”
– Qualified faith-based organizations
– For-profit
• Push for Curricular “Standards” (?)
– Emphasis on “scientific research-based practices”
– Research on adult vs. K-12 learners???
– Implications for workplace literacy???
TWA’s Goals for Improving
HEA / Pell Grants
• Individual Eligibility: Make it easier for working adults
/ part-time students to use Pell Grants
– Not “regular students”; don’t make “satisfactory progress”
– Cost of Attendance, Expected Contribution
• Program Eligibility: New aid that could be used for nontraditional, employment-focused courses
– Expand use of Pell: e.g., shorter-termed courses effective in helping
people advance; distance learning courses
OR
– Create a new title in HEA for programs serving working adults not
seeking enrollment in a long-term course of academic study
TWA’s Goals for Improving
Perkins
• Maintain Funding for Adult Workforce Programs
– Administration calling for 24% cut to Perkins; Governors’ option to use
funding for K-12 education
• Differences in Adult vs. High School Programs:
– Different measures of “success” (e.g., employment vs. degree completion)
– Reward meaningful labor market outcomes
– Comparable outcome measures with other federal workforce programs
(e.g., WIA)
Bush Administration’s
2004 Budget Request
FY ‘02
‘03 Approp.
‘04 Request
($ in thousands)
($ in thousands)
($ in thousands)
WIA Adult 950,000
900,000
900,000
WIA DW
1,549,000
1,463,770
1,383,040
WIA Youth 1,127,965
1,000,965
1,000,965
TANF
16,500,000
16,500,000
16,500,000
Perkins
1,288,000
1,308,000
1,000,000
Pell
11,314,000
11,439,000
12,715,000
Program
WIA/JTPA Adult, Youth Training (non-Summer Youth) and Dislocated Workers
(Inflation-Adjusted)
$4,000,000,000
$3,000,000,000
$2,500,000,000
WIA/JTPA Dislocated Worker Assistance
WIA/JTPA Youth Training (40% Rule)
WIA/JTPA Adult (w/60% rule)
$2,000,000,000
$1,500,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$500,000,000
Year
19
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
94
19
93
19
92
19
91
19
90
19
89
19
88
19
87
19
86
$-
19
85
Funding Level (2001 Constant $s)
$3,500,000,000
Andy Van Kleunen
Executive Director
The Workforce Alliance (TWA)
1054 31st Street NW, Suite 425
Washington, DC 200007
[email protected]
Washington Office: 202-338-0737