Summary
In fiscal year 2006, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paid approximately $2.1 billion in education assistance benefits to more than 470,000 beneficiaries and about $19 million to state approving agencies (SAA) to assess whether schools and training programs offer education of sufficient quality for veterans to receive VA education assistance benefits when attending them. Qualified individuals--veterans, service persons, reservists, and certain spouses and dependents--receive benefits through a number of education assistance programs for the pursuit of various types of programs, such as a degree program, vocational program, apprenticeship, or on-the-job training. The Departments of Education (Education) and Labor (Labor) also assess education and training programs for various purposes, primarily for awarding student aid and providing apprenticeship assistance. In 2006, under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, Education provided nearly $77 billion in student aid in the form of both grants and loans. The Department of Education assesses and certifies postsecondary institutions for participation in Title IV programs through various oversight functions to ensure that these schools meet federal administrative and financial requirements and that they are accredited and licensed. Similarly, under the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937, the Department of Labor is authorized to formulate and promote the furtherance of labor standards to safeguard the welfare of apprentices. Given each agency's role, the potential of duplicative efforts among federal agencies has been a congressional concern. In 1995, GAO reported on this matter and concluded that there was a substantial amount of overlap between the efforts of SAAs and the other federal agencies. In light of continued congressional interest in this issue, we have now answered the following questions: (1) What changes have occurred in state approving agencies' duties and functions since 1995? (2) To what extent does the SAA approval process overlap with efforts by the Departments of Education and Labor? (3) What, if any, additional value do the SAA approval activities bring to VA education benefit programs?
Since 1995, legislative changes effective in 2001 created additional responsibilities for SAAs, including promoting the development of apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs, providing outreach services, and approving tests for occupational licensing. From fiscal years 2003 to 2006, SAA funding increased from $13 million to $19 million to expand services and support the additional responsibilities. However, funding is scheduled to decrease beginning in fiscal year 2008. Many education and training programs approved by SAAs have also been approved by Education or Labor, and VA and SAAs have taken few steps to coordinate approval activities with these agencies. In addition, information is not available to determine the amount of resources spent on SAA duties and functions, including those that may overlap with other agencies and programs. SAAs reportedly add value to the approval process for education and training programs through (1) a focus on student services for veterans and on the integrity of VA benefits, (2) more frequent on-site monitoring of education and training programs than provided by Education or Labor, and (3) assessments and approval of a small number of programs that are not reviewed by other agencies. However, VA's lack of outcome-oriented performance measures for evaluating SAAs makes it difficult to assess the significance of these efforts. In conclusion, while VA spends $19 million (less than 1 percent of the total benefit amount) to fund SAA duties and functions, it does not track the amount it spends on specific SAA activities, especially those that may also be performed by other agencies. Without knowing the amount of resources spent on specific duties and functions, VA does not have all relevant information for making resource allocation decisions and cannot determine if it is spending its federal dollars efficiently and effectively. While we have identified some overlap in approval efforts across agencies, the full extent of the overlap between SAA duties and other agencies' oversight efforts is unknown. It is important that VA work with other federal agencies to determine how the scope of the approval process could be streamlined to reduce overlap and ensure that federal dollars are spent efficiently. Finally, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of SAA activities, in part because VA does not have outcome measures in place to fully evaluate SAA performance. Evaluating the effectiveness of VA's approval process is vitally important in order to manage the program and improve program results.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
George A. Scott
Government Accountability Office: Education, Workforce, and Income Security
(202) 512-5932
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To help ensure that federal dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should take steps to monitor SAA spending and identify whether any resources are spent on activities that duplicate the efforts of other agencies. The extent of these actions should be in proportion to the total resources of the program. Specifically, VA should require SAAs to track and report data on resources spent on approval activities such as site visits, catalog review, and outreach in a cost-efficient manner.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Closed - implemented
Comments: VA prepared a recommendation for concurrence by VA's General Counsel that adds language to the FY08 State Approving Agency (SAA) contract that addresses this recommendation. This language adds provisions that: (1) SAAs furnish written reports of outreach visits; (2) all visit reports must include travel time and time spent on the visit; (3) outreach expenses claimed on invoices will be supported by visit reports, travel vouchers, and receipts; and (4) SAAs shall include in the notice of approval the length of time spent reviewing and evaluating official school publications. In May 2007, legislation (S.1290) was introduced to address concerns this recommendation raises, then referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further action. In July 2009, VA reported that it had worked with the National Association of State Approving Agencies to revise the SAA contracts to include a reporting system for SAA approval activities such as tracking their their time and expenses related to outreach efforts. These changes were incorporated into the SAA FY 2009 final contracts and were sent to them on October 24, 2008.
Recommendation: To help ensure that federal dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should take steps to monitor SAA spending and identify whether any resources are spent on activities that duplicate the efforts of other agencies. The extent of these actions should be in proportion to the total resources of the program. Specifically, VA should collaborate with other agencies to identify any duplicative efforts and use the agency's administrative and regulatory authority to streamline the approval process.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Open
Comments: VA met with representatives from the Department of Labor in March 2007 to discuss areas of possible overlap between the DOL and VA. Talks will continue with DOL as needed to insure that no unnecessary overlap is occurring. VA is in the process of establishing a meeting with the appropriate staff at the Department of Education to discuss areas of possible overlap. In May 2007, Senate Bill, S. 1290 was introduced to address concerns this recommendation raises. The legislation was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further action. In July 2009, VA reported that it developed a legislative proposal for 2011 to change section 3672 of title 38 U.S.C. to give VA more discretion in utilizing the SAAs, such as to direct the SAAs approval activities to areas that are not currently reviewed by other government agencies. GAO will need to track the pending legislation and confirm with VA about areas of possible overlap with other agencies.
Recommendation: The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should establish outcome-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of SAA efforts.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Open
Comments: VA reported that the agency is developing measures to assess the effectiveness of the State Approving Agency efforts and they expect to implement the measures in FY 2008. As of July 2008, it is not clear that VA has implemented these measures. In May 2007, Senate Bill S. 1290 was introduced to address concerns about the effectiveness of State Approving Agencies as noted in the recommendation. The legislation was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further action. In July 2009, VA reported that it had collaborated with the National Association of State Approving Agencies to develop outcome-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of SAA efforts, and these measures were incorporated into the SSA FY 2009 contracts. However, when we reviewed their business plan, we determined that the measures still focused on outputs rather than outcome-oriented measures, such as completion rates of beneficiaries which would measure the impact of SSA approval activities. We will close this when VA adds such measures to its plan.
