Iowa Workforce Development overhaul sparks concerns about disability employment program

Iowa’s disability employment program is undergoing restructuring — an outgrowth of the 2023 state government realignment approved by Republican lawmakers and signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds — that Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) leaders say will streamline services and protect long-term sustainability.

Current and former Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) staff, however, warn the shake-up is already eroding institutional knowledge, straining rural offices and risking delays for Iowans with disabilities who rely on the program’s services to find and keep a job and to live independently.

Meanwhile, Linn-Mar school officials report faster access and stronger student work experiences.

What IVRS does

Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) helps Iowans with disabilities prepare for, obtain and maintain meaningful employment. Working one-on-one with professional counselors, eligible individuals create personalized plans that align with their strengths, interests and goals.

IVRS offers career counseling, benefits planning, education and training support, assistive technology and job placement services, along with pre-employment transition services for high school students exploring career options before graduation. Through partnerships with schools, community providers and employers, IVRS connects clients to the resources and experiences needed to achieve independence through successful employment and economic support.

The program is primarily federally funded through the U.S. Department of Education, with the majority of its budget supported by federal dollars.

What’s changing

Iowa Workforce Development says its restructuring of the Vocational Rehabilitation Services division aims to improve efficiency and long-term sustainability by aligning staff positions with the agency’s existing structure. It’s estimated to save the state $284,856 according to a “Reduction in Force Plan” dated Sept. 23 and signed by IWD Executive Director Beth Townsend, the governor’s office and directors of the Iowa Department of Management and Department of Administrative Services.

The plan eliminates 40 positions and creates 37 reclassified roles, with three positions not being replaced. IWD said the impacted positions represent slightly more than 16 percent of the VR division’s workforce. About two-thirds of the reclassified positions are field-based, and one-third are support roles.

Download: IVRS Org Chart_Summaries.pdf

The agency said the changes “better align VR and IWD roles that perform similar functions” and will not alter how services are delivered except to “improve overall efficiency.” The three eliminated jobs were administrative support positions IWD said were no longer necessary because duties can be distributed to other qualified staff or absorbed by technology.

Officials said the restructuring follows earlier changes that helped eliminate the state’s vocational rehabilitation (VR) waitlist and ensure all eligible Iowans with disabilities can immediately access services. The process is expected to conclude in late November, and IWD said it remains confident services “will continue as normal” during the transition.

IWD marketing and communications officer Jesse Dougherty said in a statement that affected employees were encouraged to apply for reclassified or other open jobs at IWD.

“IWD is confident that services will continue as normal for Iowans while these changes take place,” Dougherty said, adding Townsend was appointed last spring by Gov. Reynolds as interim administrator of the VR division following the departure of the previous administrator.

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The agency said Townsend received no salary change, bonus or IPERS adjustment associated with taking on the VR role.

IWD also confirmed it plans to post the permanent IVRS administrator position now that the federal shutdown has ended.

Staff describe abrupt notices, morale drop and rural strain

Front line staff interviewed by The Gazette worry the loss of experienced support personnel — particularly in rural regions — will force counselors to absorb clerical and purchasing tasks, slowing authorizations and delaying help for clients.

Michelle Hammersland, who worked as a secretary II at IVRS for 15 years in Fort Dodge, said she learned her position was being cut on the same day an internal newsletter congratulated her for her service milestone.

“The newsletter came out with my congratulations. And then that afternoon, I got told my position was being eliminated,” she said.

Hammersland said she was told she could reapply for a lower-paid rehabilitation assistant job.

“It was going to be about five grand for me,” she said of the pay cut, adding she ultimately left state government. Asked whether services would continue “as normal,” she said, “absolutely not,” noting that Fort Dodge would be left with “no support staff.”

Angela Lyon, who worked as a rehabilitation assistant in the Fort Dodge office, resigned from the position in mid-October after she learned about the layoffs earlier that month. Lyon called the move a blow to morale, saying Hammersland’s experience and institutional knowledge would be difficult to replace.

“It’s going to take longer for people to get services. … There’s so much knowledge that is just going to be dismissed that it’s going to take us longer to know what we’re supposed to be doing,” Lyon said.

She added, “People were just blown away.”

Counselor: ‘Chaotic, stressful’ since realignment

Jennifer Kimble, a counselor with 11 years at the agency based in Burlington, said the move under Iowa Workforce Development has increased administrative burdens and created a climate of fear and uncertainty among staff.

Kimble began her career at Vocational Rehabilitation as a secretary, later advancing to associate and now counselor. In her current position, she primarily works with college students, helping them develop soft skills, navigate college-related questions, build financial literacy and strengthen self-advocacy — particularly when seeking disability accommodations. She also supports participants in the “four plus” program, which helps high school graduates with unmet academic needs continue receiving specialized instruction and tutoring as they transition to college.

Kimble described the atmosphere within IVRS as “chaotic” and “stressful.”

She said there is now significantly more paperwork and a slower process for obtaining exceptions, which can lead to delays in delivering services. The restructuring has also caused heightened anxiety and fears of job loss among staff.

“It’s ulcers, it’s headaches, it’s exhaustion,” she said, adding the changes have affected staff morale and disrupted the close-knit, supportive office environment.

Kimble described facing disciplinary action after showing visible frustration during a staff-wide virtual meeting with leadership. She said she grew frustrated after hearing agency leaders discuss holding a “workshop” and celebrating new job applicants following the realignment. She said she quietly questioned those remarks while muted, but later slow-clapped in visible irritation — prompting a supervisor to email her that her “body language was inappropriate” and she needed to “control [her] emotions.”

As a result, Kimble said she received a written directive instructing her not to display further “insubordination,” lost her adjusted work schedule and was stripped of remote working privileges.

While Kimble said she has shielded her own caseload from service disruptions, she believes other areas of the state have not been as fortunate. She cited reductions in specialized roles such as Pre-Employment Transition Coordinators (PTCs), which have left some partner schools worried about continuity and the availability of transition services.

According to Kimble, remaining staff are stretched thinner, taking on larger caseloads, while others have left or retired early. She said counselors are feeling squeezed and more guarded.

Kimble warned that if the pattern continues, students and job seekers with disabilities could face service delays or diminished support.

Former administrator: Good intent, troubled execution

James Williams served as Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services administrator from the fall of 2023 through mid-April. Himself a person with a disability who benefited from VR services earlier in life, Williams said he entered the role hoping to strengthen customer service and partnerships during the transition.

The government realignment, approved by lawmakers in 2023, was intended to improve Iowa’s vocational rehabilitation system by moving it from the Iowa Department of Education to Iowa Workforce Development. The goal, Williams said, was to make access to services easier and increase collaboration among workforce programs, benefiting both people with and without disabilities. Some positive changes followed, including greater cooperation across programs and progress toward more unified services.

Early conversations with leadership focused on “ways to make VR (vocational rehabilitation) better and improve services,” he recalled, “but by the end of my tenure, it became clear that wasn’t factual.”

Williams said challenges arose from limited resources, insufficient investment in staff and training, and the way agency leaders executed the transition.

He said he resigned because he felt uncomfortable with decisions that, in his view, harmed services for Iowans with disabilities. Williams said he reported his concerns to the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) — the federal agency that oversees vocational rehabilitation programs — around the time of his exit.

“I couldn’t do anything and can’t do anything that harms people with disabilities or degrades VR,” he said. “… When it became obvious that it might, I had to move on.”

Iowa Workforce Development disputed those claims.

“We have not been made aware of any concerns, specific or otherwise, that were voiced to RSA about Iowa VR’s services,” the agency said. “If RSA staff are familiar with such concerns, they have not seen fit to address it with Iowa VR — either during Mr. Williams’ time as administrator or in the months since.”

The agency said Williams was “very supportive and active in the alignment efforts” during his employment and that “to the best of our knowledge, the departure of Mr. Williams was not in any way related to the staffing plan or overall VR services which he oversaw.”

IWD also emphasized that federal regulations give the VR administrator full authority over personnel, finances and program operations. All VR decisions “made during Mr. Williams’ time were executed at his direction and with his full knowledge,” the agency said — including initiating the plan to reclassify staff.

In a follow-up interview, Williams said an RSA liaison reached out to him to ask about his departure, “and I gave them my perspective,” but added “they never committed” to doing anything with the information.

He also said while the plan to reclassify staff was discussed with him, the decision to implement it “wasn’t made until after I left.”

IWD also said: “To the best of our knowledge, the departure of Mr. Williams was not in any way related to the staffing plan or overall VR services which he oversaw.”

Williams disagrees.

He described the transition as strained by limited funding, rising costs and execution missteps. He said he supported realignment in concept but believed leadership decisions were jeopardizing service quality.

During his tenure, Williams said Iowa’s program faced mounting financial pressures. After the pandemic, the number of people seeking services increased rapidly, reversing years of lower spending when access was limited, he said. Inflation drove up the cost of goods and provider contracts, while new requirements to match Medicaid provider rates added further expense. At the same time, both federal and state appropriations remained flat.

“If your costs are going up, you’re serving more people and your appropriation stays the same, you will run out of money — and that’s exactly what happened,” he said, describing it as a “perfect storm” of higher costs, more clients and static funding.

While Williams continues to support the concept of realignment, saying it can lower barriers, increase collaboration and cooperation, and make it easier for Iowans to access multiple services through a unified system, he said its success depends on thoughtful leadership and investment.

He credited the transition with some lasting benefits: better alignment of funding streams, improved teamwork among agencies serving Iowans with and without disabilities, and early progress toward more integrated service delivery — outcomes he said mirror successful approaches in other states.

But Williams warned that the latest wave of restructuring risks eroding those gains.

“I do have significant concerns about the integrity of the VR program in Iowa,” he said. “ … I don't necessarily know the extent to which they will, just because it's unprecedented, but I do think that there will unfortunately be a negative impact.”

He said the problem is not the realignment itself but how current leadership is implementing it.

“Do I think there will be negative effect? Absolutely, but I don’t know what they will be,” he said. “That’s part of the challenge with all of this. Because it’s not precedented, it’s hard to know.”

Williams now serves as executive director of The Arc of King County, continuing to advance opportunities for people with disabilities in education, employment and independent living in the Seattle area.

Linn-Mar school district reports gains in student access and outcomes

At the school level, some see benefits from closer alignment and targeted grants.

Iowa is one of 14 states awarded a five-year federal Disability Innovation Fund (DIF) grant totaling $13.9 million to improve employment outcomes for Iowans with disabilities.

Iowa’s initiative, known as the “Iowa Blueprint for Change” (IBC), is focused on helping Iowans with disabilities move from subminimum wage to competitive integrated employment — defined as work that pays wages comparable to employees without disabilities who have similar experience and are performing similar duties, provides equivalent benefits and advancement opportunities, and occurs in inclusive workplaces.

The initiative focuses on expanding apprenticeships and early transition programs, improving access to stable jobs, and aligning policies and funding to make competitive employment the standard outcome. It also brings together schools, community providers and other partners to build a coordinated system of support across the state.

Kathryn Power, a special-education teacher at Linn-Mar High School, said these federal and state initiatives have transformed how her school supports students with disabilities. Linn-Mar’s partnership with IVRS has grown stronger through the Iowa Blueprint for Change and its local share of the grant funding, which allowed the district to hire an employment specialist, expand work experiences and reach more students — particularly those with higher support needs.

“It's definitely a better partnership, I would say, as far as providing services and supports,” Power said. “We’re able to work closer with our VR counselors.”

Power said the grant funding enabled the hiring of an employment specialist, who works with students to understand their strengths and interests, then matches them with job experiences both within the school and in the broader community.

Power shared one student’s success story: “A student was offered a position over the summer at one of our community partners, and then within a day and a half, they actually gave him a raise, because he was doing a great job.”

The elimination of Iowa’s VR service waitlist under Workforce Development has also had a major impact, allowing students with disabilities to access services immediately upon referral and start transition services sooner and gain essential job readiness skills earlier in their high school careers, she said.

Power said the Linn-Mar and IVRS partnership has led to closer collaboration between school staff and counselors, earlier access to vocational services and expanded in-school and community job opportunities. She said VR supports are now integrated into students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals, helping them build confidence and job readiness before graduation.

An IEP is a legally required plan developed by a student’s school and parents that outlines the specialized instruction, supports and goals needed to help a student with a disability succeed academically and functionally.

Power said the changes have made transition services more accessible and effective, preparing Linn-Mar students with disabilities for employment and independence after high school.

Parent: Steady support for daughter’s path to independence

Marion resident Matt DeGreif said VR has helped his 19-year-old daughter, Mekah, a non-verbal autistic student, build confidence and work skills through a placement at Cotton Gallery in Marion.

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“They go with her and assist her in trying different jobs and tasks and, you know, figuring out kind of, I guess, the best way for her,” he said. Tasks like “hanging shirts and doing the labels” provide clear expectations and predictable outcomes that help her succeed, DeGreif said.

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DeGreif said he has not noticed service disruptions amid the state’s restructuring.

“I haven’t noticed anything,” he said, adding the partnership is largely routed through the school and familiar staff. His hope: “Eventually she’ll be able to find whatever her greatest version of independence is, and she’ll be able to contribute to society as much as she’s capable of … whatever that ends up looking like.”

He called VR “a very important program, and that it would be unfortunate if anything happened to it.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com