Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation Services Provided by Local Workforce Development Boards
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is committed to ensuring that Texas effectively prepares students with disabilities to obtain competitive and integrated employment through participation in employability skills and work readiness training, career exploration activities, work experience, postsecondary education, and other activities. A key component of this commitment is ongoing collaboration between TWC and the Texas Workforce Solutions network in carrying out these objectives.
This Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation Services Provided by Local Workforce Development Boards (Board VR Requirements) provides a framework for collaboration and joint service delivery between the Texas Workforce Commission-Vocational Rehabilitation Division ("TWC-VR") and the Local Workforce Development Boards ("Boards") across Texas. Although the activities may differ, the underlying collaboration and coordination plays a vital role in connecting people with disabilities to opportunities for successful employment.
This Board VR Requirements Manual:
- ensures that youths have access to quality services assisting them in achieving a successful employment outcome;
- aims to ensure that resources are utilized wisely and each purchase paid with public funds represents the best value to the taxpayer;
- provides published guidance for programming and fiscal accountability; and
- provides criteria for meeting TWC performance expectations for each program offered to VR customers.
This manual contains information about the following programs:
- Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL)
- Student HireAbility Navigator Project
- Paid Work Experience Services
As new programs are developed and implemented, they will be added to this manual.
On this page:
Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL)
Summer Earn and Learn services include Work Readiness Training and Paid Work Experience for students with disabilities.
Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience
Local Workforce Development Boards partner with the Texas Workforce Commission-Vocational Rehabilitation Division (TWC-VR) to pay wages and associated taxes and fees so customers with disabilities can engage in paid work experiences.
A new Wage Services invoice template
is available.
Chapter 3: Student HireAbility Navigator Program
Student HireAbility Navigators serve as resources in the workforce development area to support, expand, and enhance the provision of pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities who are in the early phases of preparing for transition to postsecondary education and employment.
Chapter 4: Board VR Contract Standards
The Board VR Contract Standards
- Outlines the roles, responsibilities, coordination of, and fee structure for each of the three Board-VR services;
- Establishes basic standards that apply to all of the services;
- Provides published standards for maintaining compliance; and
- provides criteria in order to meet TWC performance expectations for each purchase.
All policies established in this chapter apply to Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL), Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience (PWE), and the Student HireAbility Navigator programs unless otherwise specified.
Revision Notices
This notice is to inform you that TWC has posted revisions to the Board VR Requirements Manual on 8/11/2023. Updates to the Board VR Requirements Manual include clarifications, a new form, and updated procedures.
For ease of review, the following is an overview of the revisions:
- Revised Chapter 3 Sections 4 & 5
- Revised Chapter 4 Section 4.13
- New Conflict of Interest Form
Please submit all comments to Alyssa.Kee@twc.texas.gov. TWC-VR will host two meetings to review the changes and answer questions.
Meeting A August 15, 2023 – 3:00PM
Meeting B August 16, 2023 – 10:00AM
These revisions will go into effect on Monday, September 11th, 2023.
Chapter 4: Conflict of Interests Board Form
Please see Revision Notice Archive for past notices.
Board VR Requirements Manual Revision Log
This table displays revisions to the Board VR Requirements Manual following the manual's original publication on March 1, 2018. Open the linked documents to review revision details. Unless otherwise indicated, all linked documents are in Microsoft Word format.
Note: The revisions in each Word document should be visible through the Track Changes feature of Microsoft Word. If you do not see the revisions when you open the document, go to the Review tab at the top of the document, and select "All Markup" from the Display for Review drop-down menu.
Address questions regarding the Board VR Requirements to VR.Pre-ETS@twc.texas.gov.
| Revision Date | Chapter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04/05/2023 | Chapter 4: Board VR Contact Standards | Revised | Changed subchapter numbers to align with chapter number. |
| 12/14/2022 | Chapter 4: Board VR Contract Standards | New | Establishes basic standards that apply to all three programs |
| 12/14/2022 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Clarifies and streamlines policy language |
| 09/03/2021 | Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience | Revised | These changes provide updates and clarification to processes and procedures and establish a new payment structure and rate to reflect all applicable taxes and fees that will be applied across all Local Workforce Development Boards. Note: this chapter was extensively revised and content reorganized. You may view the previous version of Chapter 2. |
| 09/01/2021 | Chapter 3: Student HireAbility Navigator Program | Revised | Revised to clarify program deliverables, establish a Student HireAbility Navigator Mentorship position, and establish performance review measures. |
| 01/21/2021 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Revised to include new safety recommendations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please note: the 30-day notification period for these changes has been waived and changes take effect immediately. |
| 10/30/2020 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Revised to establish a new deliverable, Worksite Retention, and to further define that monitoring visits must be conducted while the participant is working. Please note: the 30-day notification period for these changes has been waived and changes take effect immediately. |
| 10/19/2020 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Revised to adjust the fee schedule, to require Boards to submit Work Readiness Training curriculums along with program descriptions, and to require at least one in person monitoring visit. Added new SEAL referral and monthly reporting forms; revised the SEAL monitoring report. |
| 09/15/2020 | Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience | Revised | Updated to allow for the use of electronic signatures on the VR1990, Worksite Agreements and timesheets, and remote verification of I-9 forms. |
| 03/23/2020 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Updated to align with basic standards for VR contracted providers, clarify program deliverables, and revise the notice of worksite placement to one week. |
| 05/15/2019 | Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience | Revised | Updated to clarify the role of the VR counselor in the I-9 completion process. |
| 03/01/2019 | Chapter 3: Student HireAbility Navigator Program | Revised | Updated the email address to which the Student HireAbility Navigator invoice is to sent. |
| 02/11/2019 | Chapter 1: Summer Earn and Learn (SEAL) | Revised | Updated to address the transmission of PII, require advance notice for interpreter or skills trainer services, a participant's worksite placement, and contract amendments, set August 31 as the work experience assignment end date, and to clarify that payment for the Worksite Monitoring deliverable is intended to be one, flat-fee payment for each participant. |
| 01/30/2019 | Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience | Revised | Updated to clarify that students who are potentially eligible may participate in Paid Work Experience. |
| 09/19/2018 | Chapter 2: Wage Services for VR Participants in Paid Work Experience | Revised | Updated to align content related to worksite or business exclusions, worksite monitoring responsibilities, and deliverables for paid work experience services. Added Worksite Agreement form. |
| 09/19/2018 | Chapter 3: Student HireAbility Navigator Program | Revised | Updated to allow flexibility in the due date of the three-year action plan. Added templates for Initial and Quarterly reports. |
