{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7b1fd749-8358-46bd-896a-daa273faa0cf", "Portman, Ohio Congressional Delegation Urge Department of Education to Continue Working with the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities", "2013-12-11", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) led the Ohio Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urging the Department of Education (DOE) to continue to work with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) as they provide rehabilitative services to Ohioans with disabilities seeking employment throughout the state. OOD is current working with DOE to improve investment by implementing recommendations of the Department\u2019s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) issued earlier this year in the preliminary draft of the FY2013 monitoring report.\r\nThe Ohio Congressional Delegation writes, \u201cOhioans with disabilities seeking employment opportunities receive, among other services, job training through 182 full-time equivalent employees in local communities. This public-private partnership has been in place since 2008 and enables the OOD to focus on being able to serve the current backlog of 1,915 Ohioans who have been waiting for services.\u00a0 As OOD begins the process of moving this program into compliance, we ask that the Department allow services to continue for the thousands of Ohioans who depend on these for employment and independent living.\u201d\u00a0\r\n\"County boards of developmental disabilities are the state's largest local funding partner in providing employment services to people with disabilities.\u00a0 If this partnership were to end, more than 4,000 people served by county boards of Developmental Disabilities would lose the support they need to find and keep a job,\u201d said Bridget Gargan, Executive Director of the Ohio Association of County Boards of Developmental Disabilities. \u201cWe strongly support the efforts of Ohio\u2019s congressional delegation to maintain critical job training and employment services to people with disabilities.\"\r\nThe full text of the letter is below and can also be viewed here.\r\nThe Honorable Arne Duncan  Secretary  U.S. Department of Education  400 Maryland Avenue Southwest  Washington, D.C. 20202\r\nSecretary Duncan:\r\nWe write to express our support for the ongoing efforts of the Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) Agency as they provide rehabilitative services to Ohioans with disabilities seeking employment throughout the state.\u00a0 It is our understanding that OOD is working with the U.S. Department of Education to improve federal investment by implementing the Department\u2019s Rehabilitation Services Administration\u2019s (RSA) recommendations in the FY2013 monitoring report\u2019s preliminary draft.\u00a0 We appreciate and share the Department\u2019s continued commitment to individuals participating in OOD programs and the partnership arrangements during this transition.\u00a0\r\nThe findings reached in the draft RSA FY2013 monitoring report reflect several years of ongoing negotiations between OOD and the Department of Education.\u00a0 In 2011 and 2012, OOD submitted annual plans to RSA which included a description of Ohio\u2019s 63 Third Party Cooperative Arrangements (TPCAs) Vocational Rehabilitative Public Private Partnerships (VRP3s) contracts.\u00a0 Each plan was approved by the RSA.\u00a0 This past October, RSA issued a draft of its FY2013 monitoring report directing OOD to cease using federal Vocational Rehabilitation dollars for services that they deem unallowable under third party agreements.\u00a0 At this time, OOD is taking efforts to implement the RSA recommendations in order to be in full compliance with the Department of Education guidelines.\u00a0\r\nOhioans with disabilities seeking employment opportunities receive, among other services, job training through 182 full-time equivalent employees in local communities. This public-private partnership has been in place since 2008 and enables the OOD to focus on being able to serve the current backlog of 1,915 Ohioans who have been waiting for services.\u00a0 As OOD begins the process of moving this program into compliance, we ask that the Department allow services to continue for the thousands of Ohioans who depend on these for employment and independent living.\u00a0   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0   With these concerns in mind, we respectfully request that the Department continue working with OOD and allow OOD to implement any changes to its current TPCA structure through the end of the federal fiscal year 2014.\u00a0 This extension will help mitigate the disruption of the services being provided to thousands of Ohioans as OOD works with RSA to fully comply with federal guidelines.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=7b1fd749-8358-46bd-896a-daa273faa0cf"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4330281410366297, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}