WIOA Waiver for Out-of-School Youth Expenditure – PY 21-22
Workforce Services Information Notice
WSIN21-12
Issued: September 2, 2021
The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) and the Employment Development Department (EDD) were approved for a Department of Labor (DOL) Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) waiver of WIOA Section 129(a)(4)(A) for Program Year (PY) 2021-22.
This waiver allows Local Workforce Development Boards (Local Board) to decrease the out-of-school youth (OSY) expenditure requirement from 75 percent to 50 percent to provide additional flexibility to Local Boards in order to increase in-school youth (ISY) enrollments of those who meet the WIOA-defined youth barriers related to foster care, justice-involved, and/or homelessness.
To expedite the implementation and use of this waiver, this notice provides the policy and procedures for Local Boards to apply for the WIOA OSY expenditure waiver.
Policy and Procedure
Under the DOL’s Secretary of Labor waiver authority outlined in WIOA Section 189(i)(3)(A) and in TEGL 8-18, the Secretary may waive certain provisions of WIOA Title I. Part of the waiver lifecycle requires states to estimate and then regularly assess whether the waiver is successfully achieving state goals.
Waivers provide the state and Local Boards with opportunities to innovate and experiment with new approaches to service delivery. States with approved waivers must report in detail the waiver’s impact and outcomes in the WIOA Annual Report. The DOL will consider outcome information as part of the criteria for granting renewal of a waiver if requested.
OSY Expenditure Waiver
The OSY Expenditure waiver was approved for PY 21-22, which is from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
WIOA Section 129(a)(4)(A) requires Local Boards to spend at least 75 percent of their WIOA youth formula allocation on youth workforce investment activities for OSY. This waiver allows a Local Board to decrease their OSY expenditure requirement from 75 percent to 50 percent for PY 21-22 to increase their ISY enrollments of youth who are homeless, in foster care, or are justice-involved.
Projected Programmatic Outcomes
As part of the waiver request, California projected that Local Boards who apply for and use this waiver will see an increase of approximately 15 percent in the total number of ISY that they enroll who meet the WIOA-defined youth barriers related to foster care, justice-involved, and/or homelessness. While Local Boards will not be sanctioned if they do not meet or exceed the 15 percent increase, not meeting the target could impact the state’s ability to renew this waiver in the future.
Waiver Application Process
The DOL requires the state to evaluate the effectiveness of waivers as part of the WIOA Annual Report. The state must therefore track which Local Boards are using the waivers. To use the OSY Expenditure waiver, a Local Board must submit a WIOA OSY Waiver Application (Attachment).
Applications are due by September 30, 2021, and must be electronically signed by the Local Board’s Executive Director and emailed to CWDBPolicyUnit@cwdb.ca.gov with “WIOA Waiver Request Application” in the subject line. The CWDB and the EDD will review the applications and notify Local Boards via email of their approval or denial.
For any questions regarding this waiver guidance, contact the CWDB at CWDBPolicyUnit@cwdb.ca.gov.
/s/ JENNIFER GOUVAIA, Acting Chief
Central Office Workforce Services Division