Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
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[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
m. 1. B. The justification for the order
Current Narrative:
The lack of full funding available from the state to match the total federal dollars available has impacted LRS’ overall ability to effectively serve many individuals with disabilities in Louisiana who could potentially become employed.
LRS continues to have difficulty maintaining adequate staff, resulting in reduced capacity to administer the program and serve consumers. In 1988, when the Order of Selection (OOS) was implemented, LRS had approximately 565 staff members on hand to administer the programs under the auspices of LRS. In PY 2018 this number declined to 180 (68% decrease). Specifically, Rehabilitation Counselors have decreased by 46% over the last sixteen years (from 142 in 2002 to 77 in 2018). LRS’ goal, as positions have been lost due to budget cuts or inability to hire, has been to maintain counselors above all other positions as indicated by the slower decline in counselor numbers as compared to other staff.
On March 20, 1988, LRS moved to providing Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services statewide through an OOS. This enabled LRS to continue providing services to those eligible, preserve its ability to accept applications, to provide diagnostic studies, to provide trial work experiences and to determine placement in the OOS.
Effective July 20, 1999, LRS served all current consumers and new applicants determined eligible and placed in OOS Category I due to decreased funding. OOS Category II was opened in February of 2000. On March 9, 2001 LRS moved from three OOS categories to five OOS categories. In August of 2002, LRS opened OOS Category III and it was closed again in August of 2003.
OOS Category III was opened again in December 14, 2005 and in January 10, 2006, due to a waiver of the state match approved by Congress to assist the state in its recovery efforts after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, all OOS categories were opened. Due to this waiver, LRS was able to serve all five OOS categories from January 10, 2006 through April 13, 2009. From April 14, 2009 through September 30, 2010, LRS served OOS Categories I & II. Effective October 1, 2010, LRS began serving OOS I only. On January 1, 2014 LRS began serving individuals on the waiting list in Order of Selection Category II. On July 1, 2014 OOS Categories II and III were opened and individuals on the waiting list in Category IV were served. LRS served individuals determined eligible and placed in Categories I - III through February 29, 2016 at which time Categories I - III were closed. On June 3, 2016, Category I was opened and individuals on the Category II waiting list were served. On February 22, 2017, Category I was closed so all categories remained closed. On July 3, 2017 1,007 were served from the Category I waiting list. On September 1, 2017 1,019 were served from the Category I waiting list. On October 16, 2017 605 were served from the Category I waiting list. On November 8, 2017, LRS fully opened Category 1 and served the 795 on the waiting list. On July 16, 2018, Category II was opened and 464 were served off of the waiting list. Categories III – V remained closed. On October 1, 2018, Category III was opened and 242 were served from the waiting list. Categories IV & V remained closed. On December 12, 2018, Category IV was opened and 145 were served off of the waiting list, also 30 were served from Category V. Category V is the only category currently closed. There are no individuals on the waiting list and all client who have applied are being served.