THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT/THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK/ALBANY, NY 12234

Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education
Assistant Commissioner for Workforce Preparation and Continuing Education
(518) 474-8892; Fax: (518) 474-0319; http://www.nysed.gov/workforce.

June 30, 2000

TO:	Chairpersons of Private Industry Councils Chief Elected Officials SDA Administrative Entities SDA Grant Recipients One-Stop Grant Recipients BOCES District Superintendents Adult Education and Family Literacy Programs, EDGE and Continuing Education Administrators
FROM:	Jean C. Stevens
SUBJECT:	Approval of Memoranda of Agreement for the Workforce Investment Act: Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy between the New York State Education Department and Local Workforce Investment Boards

This technical assistance advisory addresses the local memoranda of agreement (MOA) between local workforce investment boards and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for the Workforce Investment Act: Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy coordination with One-Stop Delivery Systems.

Requirements

The New York State Education Department is the “eligible agency” designated to represent local providers of Title II on the local workforce investment boards and to complete local memoranda of agreements for the One-Stop Delivery System as specified in the U.S. Department of Education Program Memorandum-OVAE-99-14. Copies of the memorandum are available to download at the following web site:

Strategies

The January 27, 2000 technical assistance memorandum “Adult Education and Family Literacy Support for One-Stop Delivery Systems and Representation on Local Workforce Investment Boards” (www.wdsny.org/wiaed.doc) designates the local Title II representatives and outlines the New York State Education Department strategies to fulfill federal mandates. This memorandum also reiterates the commitment to align programs and resources to support One-Stop Delivery Systems. This commitment will develop through the following steps:

1. Existing adult education and family literacy providers will connect with the One-Stop Delivery Systems to provide appropriate assessment, comprehensive referral and services support to out-of–school youth and adults.
   • This forms the initial basis of the memoranda of agreement between the New York State Education Department and local Workforce Investment Boards, which will be signed over the next several weeks.

   • These memoranda of agreement will be negotiated on behalf of the NYSED by the WIA Title II representative identified in the January 2000 technical assistance memorandum. The negotiated MOAs will be reviewed and signed by Richard H. Cate, Chief Operating Officer, New York State Education Department.

   • It is strongly recommended that the memoranda include a description of the services to be provided under WIA Title II funding by all of the existing adult education and family literacy programs in each local workforce investment area. The memoranda can also reflect program, service and resource commitments from a variety of other Department-administered funds, including adult literacy education, welfare education programs, Employment Preparation Education State Aid, alternative education and incarcerated education, Even Start and Education for Gainful Employment (EDGE) programs.

2. Once the allocation of WIA Title II funds for fiscal year (FY) 2000-2001 has been awarded to the adult education providers, amendments can be made to the local memoranda to reflect more comprehensive services.
   • Providers in each of the 33 workforce investment areas will work together as a network to meet both federal requirements and NYSED's commitment to comprehensively connect a full range of relevant programs and services (e.g., State funded adult literacy programs, including school districts and BOCES receiving Employment Preparation Education State Aid, family literacy programs, incarcerated education, workplace literacy programs and alternative education programs).

   • Performance requirements for FY 2000-01, under New York's Adult Education Statewide Accountability System for Student Success, will form the basis for NYSED provision of cost and performance information to One-Stop Delivery Systems.

3. Comprehensive planning will create regional networks and support One-Stop Delivery Systems.
   • Planning efforts will focus on supporting comprehensive referral networks, and programs and services aligned to the One-Stop Delivery Systems.

4. Regional leadership teams will provide on-going technical assistance.
   • In each of the ten economic regions of the State, regional leadership teams consist of the NYSED's regional coordinator for adult education and family literacy, WIA Title II board representatives and the director of the regional staff development consortia. The teams will provide technical assistance to local providers of adult education and family literacy.

5. Over the next four years, regional networks will evolve to coordinate a broader variety of providers and resources with close connections to vocational rehabilitation, libraries, and vocational and technical education services funded under the federal Carl D. Perkins legislation.

Specific Guidance for Local Memoranda of Agreements

To facilitate completion of local memoranda of agreements for the alignment of services provided under WIA Title II adult education and family literacy, the following guidelines should be followed:

1. The MOA must be written between the local Workforce Investment Board and the New York State Education Department on behalf of currently funded adult education and family literacy providers receiving Title II Adult Education and Family Literacy funds (FY 1999-2000). See moutemp.htm for the MOU template developed by the State Department of Labor and wia.htm for the Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) Self-Assessment tool.

2. WIA Title II support can be through “in-kind,” services or resources to meet federal requirements.

3. WIA Title II funding cannot support operation of the local Workforce Investment Board unless specific pro-rated costs can be identified and such activities are specifically allowable under WIA Title II. Costs cannot exceed the local 5 percent administrative cap for local programs and would have to be justified as not reducing the effectiveness of local program administration.

4. Submit a draft of the MOA (hard copy and disk in Microsoft Word or save as text file) to the MOA Workgroup for NYSED review and any necessary modifications:
   Adult Literacy and Workforce Preparation Team
   New York State Education Department
   Attention: Workforce Investment Act MOA Workgroup
   Room 307 EB
   Albany, New York 12234

5. The Draft MOA will be reviewed by the Education Department program office as well as the Offices of Counsel and Budget Coordination.

6. In the transmittal letter, clearly provide the name and phone number of the person on the local board who can answer questions and to whom the draft should be returned. In many cases, this will be the NYSED Title II designee on the local board.

7. NYSED will return the reviewed draft with any additions or revisions to the local board for final preparation and appropriate signatures.

8. If additional changes are made by the local board, the draft must be resubmitted to NYSED for review.

9. Four copies of the MOA should be forwarded to the New York State Education Department from the local Workforce Investment Board to the following address:
   Adult Literacy and Workforce Preparation Team
   New York State Education Department
   Attention: Workforce Investment Act MOA Workgroup
   Room 307 EB
   Albany, New York 12234
   • One copy of the MOA must have an original signature from the local board.
     
   • The Education Department signatory is Richard H. Cate, Chief Operating Officer, New York State Education Department.
     
   • A separate signature page is recommended.

   I trust that this memorandum will facilitate the expeditious completion of the necessary memoranda of agreements. For technical assistance, please contact Ann Mattei, Constance Carroll or Robert Purga at (518) 474-8920.