U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration Washington, D. C. 20210 |
CLASSIFICATION
JTPA |
| CORRESPONDENCE
SYMBOL
TDCP | |
| ISSUE
DATE
June 9, 1998 | |
| RESCISSIONS
None | EXPIRATION
DATE
Continuing |
DIRECTIVE |
: |
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 06-96, Change 1 |
TO |
: |
ALL STATE JTPA LIAISONS |
FROM |
: |
DAVID HENSON |
SUBJECT |
: |
Program Year (PY) 1998 Guidance for Job Training System Improvements Through Waivers of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and the Wagner-Peyser Act (W-P Act) |
Purpose. To transmit guidance regarding: (1) the handling of waiver extensions for waivers granted in PY 1997; (2) performance outcomes under PY 1998 waiver extensions; (3) the development and submission of PY 1998 requests for waivers of JTPA and W-P Act general statutory/regulatory provisions; and (4) the handling of general statutory waivers granted to States which have been designated as Workforce Flexibility Partnership Demonstration States (Work-Flex States).
Reference. The 1997 Department of Labor (DOL) Appropriations Act (Pub. L. No. 104-208 sections 101(e) and 105); the 1998 DOL Appropriations Act (Pub. L. No. 105-78); Training and Employment Information Notice (TEIN) No. 11-96, Statutory and Regulatory Waiver Authority of the JTPA and the Wagner-Peyser Act; TEIN No. 5-93, Changes 1 and 3; Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 6-96; TEGL No. 2-97.
Background. The Department issued TEGL 6-96 to provide guidance for the development and submission of State waiver requests under the waiver authority granted to the Secretary in the 1997 DOL Appropriations Act to waive certain statutory and regulatory provisions of JTPA and the W-P Act. Forty-one States submitted waiver requests under the 1997 waiver authority during the year, with States receiving, and implementing, waiver approvals at various times throughout the year. The 1997 general waiver authority was for a period of one program year beginning July 1, 1997 and ending June 30, 1998.
The Secretary's waiver authority was extended for an additional program year in the DOL 1998 Appropriations Act. The Secretary's extended authority applies to funds available for expenditure in PY 1998 (i.e., July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999), which may include available PY's 1996, 1997, and 1998 funds. With this extended authority, the Department is herein providing guidance to States on the handling of waiver requests for PY 1998. This guidance will also address issues attendant to waivers granted to States under the Secretary's 1997 waiver authority. This guidance is being provided in a Question and Answer (Q&A) format based on the major State issues as we understand them.
JTPA & W-P Act General Statutory and Regulatory Waiver Extensions.
Q. Will the Department be granting waiver extensions for those States that requested and were granted JTPA and/or W-P Act general statutory and regulatory waivers under the Secretary's PY 1997 authority, and which have an executed modification to their JTPA Grant Agreement or W-P Act Governor-Secretary Agreement which expires on June 30, 1998? What will the States need to do to request an extension of their granted waivers?
A. Pursuant to the Secretary's PY 1998 waiver authority, the Department will grant JTPA and W-P Act general statutory and regulatory waiver extensions through the end of PY 1998 (i.e., June 30, 1999) for any State that requested and was granted PY 1997 waivers, and has an executed waiver modification to its JTPA Grant Agreement or W-P Act Governor-Secretary Agreement. Due to the incremental nature in the way waivers were approved throughout 1997, the Department has decided that extending waivers through PY 1998 will better provide the various States the opportunity to fully implement and assess the effectiveness of the waivers on participant outcomes. Thus, if a State wishes to have its waivers extended through PY 1998, no action is required by the State. The National Office Grant Officer will see to the preparation of the necessary grant documents to extend the JTPA waivers. The Regional Office Grant Officer will see to the preparation of the necessary documents to extend the W-P Act waivers. However, those States granted a waiver of the W-P Act plan submission for PY 1997 under Section 8, must submit a W-P Act Plan for PY 1998 (see paragraph 6.a.(1) of the PY 1998 consolidated planning guidance, TEGL No. 2-97, dated February 19, 1998). The effective date for all executed waiver extensions will be July 1, 1998.
If a State does not wish to have its JTPA or W-P Act general waivers extended, it should notify the appropriate Grant Officer, in writing, not later than June 22, 1998.
Performance Expectations Under Waiver Extensions.
Q. Will the States receiving general statutory and regulatory waiver extensions for PY 1998 be expected to have performance improvements in addition to those agreed to under PY 1997 waivers? Will there be an additional percentage increase over the percentage increase expected for a State's PY 1997 granted waivers, as set forth in the waiver modification to the JTPA Grant Agreement? How will the Department handle situations involving States that have prorated performance improvement goals for their waivers due to the timing of their waiver approvals during 1997?
A. States receiving PY 1998 waiver extensions will be expected to have improved performance outcomes in addition to those agreed to under PY 1997 waivers; however, the level of performance improvement will depend largely on the effective date of the 1997 waiver modification to the JTPA Grant Agreement, and the performance increase agreed to in the performance clause of the executed modification to the State's JTPA PY 1997 Grant Agreement.
The initial performance improvement sought by the Department for States receiving waivers is a five (5) percent increase, using the preceding program year's actual performance as the baseline for improvement (e.g., for PY 1997, the increase is against PY 1996 actual performance as the baseline for improvement). For waivers in effect for less than the full program year, the five (5) percent performance improvement was prorated to correspond to the effective date of the PY 1997 waiver modification.
In general, the performance improvement goals under waiver extensions for PY 1998 are:
For States with waiver modifications effective July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998, with an agreed-to PY 1997 performance improvement of five (5) percent, the performance goal for PY 1998 under the waiver extension will be "to achieve continued improvement" over the preceding PY 1997 actual performance. Some improvement is expected; however, no specific percentage increase is applied to PY 1998 performance.
For States with waiver modifications effective September 30, 1997, with an agreed-to PY 1997 performance improvement of four (4) percent, the performance improvement goal for PY 1998 under the waiver extension will be a one (1) percent improvement over the preceding PY 1997 actual performance. The one (1) percent improvement is a uniform way to satisfy the initial five (5) percent improvement sought by the Department under waivers. This will also bring these States to a level of performance similar to that at which those States having waivers effective for the entire PY 1997 at a five (5) percent improvement level are at now. Any future waiver extensions for such States would be subject to the performance goal "to achieve continued improvement" described above.
In considering whether the State has attained the agreed upon performance improvement for PY 1998, the Department will apply the Secretary's Adjustment Models, exclusive of Governor's Adjustments, to the performance improvement goals. PY 1997 and PY 1998 performance will be calculated in the same way for both years. The Standardized Participant Information Report instructions in TEIN No. 5-93, Change 1 (dated June 23, 1994), as modified by TEIN No. 5-93, Change 2 (dated January 24, 1997), remain in effect unless specifically waived or modified in the waiver modification to the JTPA Grant Agreement.
A number of States that were granted waivers during 1997 requested deferred implementation of their waivers for various reasons until PY 1998. Those requests were approved. Additionally, a few States wished to negotiate certain aspects of their approved waivers. This action resulted in delayed implementation of their granted waivers until PY 1998. States in these situations are not covered by the above waiver extension policy because their waivers already have been approved through PY 1998.
PY 1998 JTPA and Wagner-Peyser Act Waiver Requests.
Q. Will the procedures for developing and submitting waivers be different from those established for PY 1997 for States wishing to request PY 1998 statutory and regulatory waivers? Will there be any changes with respect to consideration of Wagner-Peyser Act waiver requests?
A. In general, the guidance provided in TEGL No. 6-96 for the development and submission of JTPA and W-P Act waiver requests continues to apply to requests for PY 1998 waivers. This is particularly true for those States which currently do not have approved waivers, but wish to request waivers for PY 1998.
A State requesting waivers to supplement its already approved PY 1997 waivers may do so following the guidance in TEGL No. 6-96, but it need not re-submit its PY 1997 waiver plan. The State may submit an abbreviated request which references its original waiver plan submission, and which provides the relevant information on the specific statutory/regulatory provisions the State is seeking to waive. The State's request must, at a minimum, address the elements of paragraph 9. b. of TEGL 6-96, as they apply to the provisions to be waived in the PY 1998 supplemental waiver request. The granting of additional waivers will not increase the performance outcomes for the State above the increase agreed to in the performance clause in the executed grant modification to the State's PY 1997 JTPA Grant Agreement, except to the extent provided for in paragraph 5., above.
Regarding W-P Act waivers, requests to waive the provisions of sections 8-10 for PY 1998 will be considered if a State wishes to submit such requests. However, as indicated in paragraph 4. above, those States which received a waiver in PY 1997 of the section 8 plan submission requirements must submit a W-P Act plan for PY 1998.
Handling of JTPA and W-P Act General Statutory Waivers Granted to Work-Flex States.
Q. How will the Department handle PY 1997 JTPA and W-P Act general statutory waivers granted to States that were subsequently selected as Work-Flex States? Will extensions for PY 1998 be approved for Work-Flex States with PY 1997 JTPA and W-P Act general statutory waivers? How will PY 1998 W-P Act waiver requests be handled for Work-Flex States?
A. In consideration of the timing in the designation of Work-Flex States, and recognizing the need for the Work-Flex States to finalize and implement their waiver processes, the following policy will apply to PY 1997 JTPA and W-P Act waivers granted to such States:
Work-Flex States that have existing PY 1997 JTPA and W-P Act general statutory and regulatory waivers will be treated the same as other States for purposes of PY 1998 waiver extensions. Thus, pursuant to paragraph 4., above, waiver extensions for JTPA and W-P Act general statutory and regulatory waivers for PY 1998 will also be automatically approved for all Work-Flex States. However, any approved extension is only for the period July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999. The decision to extend waivers for Work-Flex States is intended to permit service delivery areas (SDAs) and title III Substate Areas (SSAs) to request waivers from the States, and for States to review and transition any of the local program waivers they wish to continue under their Work-Flex waiver authority/process. All currently approved local-level programmatic waivers will terminate as of June 30, 1999. However, W-P Act and State-level JTPA administrative waivers not available to the States under Work-Flex authority may be extended beyond June 30, 1999, if the Secretary's waiver authority is extended.
Work-Flex States may, under the TEGL No. 6-96 guidelines, submit additional State-level JTPA administrative and W-P Act statutory and regulatory waiver requests for consideration for PY 1998. However, as noted in paragraph 4., States with approved PY 1997 waivers of W-P Act section 8 plan submission requirements must submit a PY 1998 W-P Act plan. A Work-Flex State granted a waiver of its PY 1997, W-P Act Annual Plan must submit a Plan for PY 1998 and every two years thereafter, in accordance with Work-Flex authority, through June 30, 2002.
Requests for waivers of W-P Act sections 8-10 will continue to be submitted to the Secretary for consideration and approval.
Action Required. States are requested to distribute the guidance on both the Federal process described in this TEGL and the State-established waiver process to their State staff (both JTPA and ES), the SESA local offices, the JTPA SDAs/SSAs, and other interested stakeholders throughout the State.
Inquiries. Requests for technical assistance or other inquiries should be directed to your Regional Office.