Today, as we travel back from Florida and prepare to travel to Illinois for the funeral, my teammates in my Partners in Policymaking class will be convening at the Georgia State Capitol building to present a “mock testimony” on Vocational Rehabilitation Transition Counselors.

These counselors assist students with disabilities in their transition from school to a work environment. It has been both fascinating and frustrating to learn about this program. The original premise of our testimony was that there are federal monies available to hire these counselors in the various school systems, but that out of 166 school systems only 70-some have counselors in place. This was in spite of an 80/20 match of funds, where school districts were only required to put up $14,000.

What we discovered is that there is much about this program that needs “fixing”. First off, the voc rehab counselors are nearly impossible to find. Because it is required that they have a masters’ degree in counseling, plus additional training for their certification, one would expect that they would have a starting salary higher than a fast food worker. But, alas, this is not the case.

So, finding someone who wants to be a voc rehab counselor and work for nearly minimum wage is next to impossible. Therefore, the caseloads of those who are holding these positions have continued to grow to well over 100 clients...some as much as 130. All the information we were able to find says a manageable caseload maximum is 70. Then there is the issue of mountains of paperwork. For a variety of reasons (lack of technology, bureaucratic requirements and client privacy laws) the counselors have to do all their own paperwork – and it needs to be both computerized and actual paper – a huge duplication of effort.

We really weren’t surprised to discover that the “successful outcome” rate (meaning that a student was employed for at least 90 days) over the last few years has been dismal. How could it not be when there are so many obstacles in the way of these counselors actually being able to work directly with the students. Because caseload is so great, many students never get counselors, but most don’t get a counselor until they are in 12th grade, and about to leave the school system.

The deeper we dug for information for our “mock” testimony, the more we didn’t like the reality of what was happening with the program. And the more troubling it was to try to imagine where to start in fixing it. The counselors themselves are trying to do what is right by the clients they have. But the obstacles are huge.

It’s one more frustrating example of people who need the services the most (students with disabilities) getting the least. And who can argue that helping a young person with disabilities find a place of gainful employment is an unnecessary thing? Not only do you improve that person’s quality of life, but you save countless dollars of other social services care that would be needed if that person couldn’t work and earn a living.

I hope the legislators who hear this testimony today will take some of the information to heart.

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