Located in:
IV. Coordination with State Plan Programs
Current Narrative:
In September 2014, the Kansas Department of Commerce (Commerce), the state workforce and economic development agency, convened leadership from the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL), the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) and the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) to discuss implementation of WIOA. KDOL administers Unemployment Insurance and generates and analyzes Labor Market Information; KBOR oversees the Adult Education and Family Literacy program and coordinates Kansas public postsecondary community colleges, technical colleges and governs public state universities; DCF is responsible for Rehabilitation Services, TANF, SNAP and multiple other social services. After many hours of discussion, WIOA Core Partner leadership established the State Plan Management Team (SPMT) to work as directed by the State Board to develop the WIOA Combined State Plan. In October 2014, the state Workforce Board voted unanimously for Kansas to be an early WIOA Implementation State, setting an aggressive timeline to complete, seek comment for and submit the plan by the end of January 2016.
In November of 2014 the SPMT determined workgroups would review the current system, research policy, procedure and practices, make recommendations for the WIOA State Plan and produce plan narrative as directed by the State Board.
The SPMT appointed two representatives from each Core Partner program, one local-level representative and one state-level representative, to seven State Plan Work Groups. The seven work groups were Infrastructure and Shared Cost; Data Collection and Sharing; Youth Services; Business Outreach; Performance; Customer Flow; and Continuous Improvement. Each work group consisted of six primary members, two from Workforce Services, two from Adult Education and two from VR Services; other SPMT members participated as needed. The SPMT built a series of questions based on the WIO Act for each work group to consider as they formulated their recommendations for establishing an integrated workforce system that met the requirements of WIOA, met the needs of business and improved the employment and training outcomes of all workers and jobseekers. In March of 2015 a State Plan development kickoff event was held bringing all work group members together with LWDB executive staff and state agency leaders to review the WIOA state plan requirements, receive instructions for moving forward and to answer questions or address concerns expressed by event participants. Work group participants were informed their groups were expected to facilitate a collaborative and inclusive process related to research, development, planning and implementation of WIOA, and to operate with the principle of shared responsibility. The day-long event was attended by over sixty-five individuals from across the state and across programs.
In June 2015, the State Plan work groups presented their recommendation to the SPMT and the KWSB. The SPMT consolidated all responses to the recommendations and provided guidance to the work groups in July 2015 for modifications and specific instructions for completing the narrative portion of the State Plan as it related to their work group.
In December 2015, the SPMT finalized narrative and other required components of the Combined State Plan. The KWSB called a special meeting that month to approve the final plan draft for posting and distribution for comment. The SPMT made necessary modifications based on those comments and the State Board approved the plan for submission to the US Departments of Labor and Education in January 2016.
This description demonstrates that the methods included not only an opportunity for the entities responsible for planning or administering the Core Programs and the other programs to review and comment on all portions of the combined plan, but to also substantially contribute to the development of the State Plan.