7000 People Waiting
Many people with disabilities want to work but need help getting a job; Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) is that help. The state budget signed in July 2025 did not invest enough money to cover the costs of the (DVR).
Beginning in December 2025, DVR ran out of money and people with disabilities seeking work began being told they would wait in line for possibly a year to get help. Currently, DWD says there are more than 7600 people waiting, and they estimate 1000 more people will be added to the wait list each month.
13.10 Request to Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee for $11M
The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) sent a request (called a 13.10) to Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee for $11M to meet demand through June 30, 2027. The additional $11M in state funding would allow Wisconsin to draw in nearly $75 M more in federal funding to support Wisconsin residents with disabilities get jobs.
Instead, the committee voted to provide $7M total, in $600,000 more for the first year of the state biennial budget. This $600,000 in state funding will let Wisconsin draw federal match for 2026 and let DWD have the required state matching funds to compete for an uncertain amount of federal grant funding in July 2026. The current waitlist may be reduced by an unknown number, but it is unlikely the current waitlist will be fully eliminated before June 30, 2027.
For the second year of the budget, DVR remains $4M short of what it needs in state funds to be able to fully draw down an additional 80% in federal formula funds.
Reallotment funds are not a substitute for formula funding.
Each July, states are allowed to compete for federal reallotment funding if they have the required amount of state funds (match). Reallotment funds are awarded as a lump sum and are independent of the formula funds distributed to states. The amount of reallotment funding available and amount granted to states is uncertain.
By not setting aside enough state dollars to fully draw down the federal formula match in the second year of the budget, Wisconsin’s DVR program will start the next state budget process with a$4M shortfall where the funding is not sufficient to meet the needs of all the people who need help funding work. That shortfall means that Wisconsin misses out on significant federal funding which increases the ability for DVR to help people who need services in real time.
The work is not done
DVR says it will start helping people on the waitlist immediately and continue to do so as staffing and resources allow. JFC decision to fund a portion of the requested funds will not make that an easy task. Until DVR receives the amount of state funding needed, people with disabilities may continue to have to wait to work.
