Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

VR and DOE maintain an interagency agreement, which was updated in recent years to capture expanded federal requirements under WIOA. The interagency agreement states that: the roles and responsibilities, including financial responsibilities and methods for determining which partner agency and qualified personnel is responsible for transition services are: 1. The student’s Transition IEP will define the services and responsible payer for each of the services. If VR is responsible for payment of a service, this responsibility will be described in the Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). 2. Each agency will maximize coordination in the use of federal funds. 3. Decisions related to which entity will be financially responsible for providing transition or pre-ETS that can be considered both a special education and a VR service must be made at the local level as part of the collaboration between the VR agency, state educational agency, and the local educational agency. The Partner Agencies will collaborate to develop the required procedures and processes that VR area offices and local educational agencies will use when considering and assigning the financial responsibility of each agency for the provision of transition and pre-ETS to students with disabilities. The required procedures and processes will be based, at least in part, on the following criteria: a. Is the purpose of the service related to an employment outcome or education? b. Is the service one that the school customarily provides under IDEA, Part B? c. Is the student receiving special education services 14 years or older or entered grade 9? 4. The partner agencies will develop procedures and processes for outreach efforts and identification of eligible and potentially eligible students with disabilities. These efforts will occur as early as possible during the transition process and will include: a description of pre-ETS available to students who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services; the purpose of the VR program; eligibility requirements; application process; and the scope of services that may be provided to eligible individuals. Any formal training on the topic of transition from school to adult life will include appropriate stakeholders, e.g., VR area office staff, school personnel, and students/families. The interagency agreement between VR and DOE is in the process of being reviewed and will be updated by June, 2018. The review of the interagency agreement between VR and DOE will include an assessment of current strategies and identification of new strategies to maximize transition opportunities for students. This will include the types of consultation and technical assistance VR will provide to educational agencies, methods that VR can use to provide consultation and technical assistance, including through alternative means, such as conference calls and webinars, how DOE and VR will work together in the development and facilitation of the IEP and IPE, cross-training opportunities between the VR and DOE, and coordination with non-educational agencies for out-of-school youth.