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July
20, 2004
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Headline
News
Funding Truck Driving Training - Do You Know the Keys to Success?
A
key component of a healthy economy is the development and maintenance
of a skilled workforce. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
overall employment of truck drivers and driver/sales workers is expected
to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the
year 2012, due to growth in the economy and in the amount of freight
carried by truck. In order to meet the continued demand for skilled
drivers, truck driving training schools will need to expand collaborations
with various government funding sources in order to ensure that potential
students who need funding to attend schools can access these resources.
The purpose of this article is to review some of the existing funding
sources available to schools, as well as to describe new funding sources
and approaches to fundraising.
Due to the many
types of government-funded sources of training funding, it can be a
challenge for schools to determine all potential sources of training
funds that might be accessed for students. For example, over seventy
federal programs provide job-training services. It is important that
school staff become familiar with all potential funding sources in order
to ensure that eligible individuals have access to resources to become
skilled drivers and gainfully employed. School staff need to determine
whether and how these resources are coming into their communities and
need to develop proactive strategies to form collaborations with other
organizations if they cannot directly access these funds.
Some of the current
sources schools use to fund training include:
• Federal
financial aid program funding
• Workforce Investment Act funds (including funds for the disadvantaged
and dislocated workers)
• Veterans Employment and Training funds
• Trade Readjustment Act funds
• Welfare to Work funding
• Vocational Rehabilitation funding
• Private Insurance and Worker Compensation program funds
• Union program funding
• Targeted population funding, including funds for training
Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, Native Americans, homeless and youth
programs
• Housing programs that fund training services
• Employer-financed training
• Student-financed training
In addition to these
typical funding sources listed above, new sources of government funding
for training are emerging. For example, the Ticket to Work Program is
a new Social Security Administration (SSA) employment and healthcare
initiative for people with disabilities who want to work. The Program
goal is to increase opportunities and choices for Social Security disability
beneficiaries to find employment, vocational rehabilitation and other
support services through a pool of providers known as Employment Networks.
Any organization that can provide employment services, including training
services, can be an EN. Over 11 million disability beneficiaries will
receive a Ticket to use with service providers of their choice. This
represents an important new potential marketplace of students for truck
driving training schools.
Because Ticket to
Work is an outcomes-based reimbursement program, initial employment
and support services provided to Ticket holders will need to be financed
in part by the EN before the Social Security Administration provides
reimbursement for achievement of agreed upon performance measures and
milestones. In order to support these upfront costs, as well as to expand
the organization’s customer base and range of services, schools
will need to leverage some of the existing sources of funding for training,
however, they may still receive revenue from the Ticket to Work program
for training and placing these individuals.
In addition to remaining
updated on new types of government funds, schools can benefit from reviewing
their overall approach to fundraising. For example, if schools cannot
access types of funds directly because they are not eligible organizations
to receive certain types of funds, they will need to consider collaborating
with other organizations such as developing a subcontracting relationship.
This type of a flexible approach to fundraising expands opportunities
and access to many more sources of funds.
As schools seek
new types of funding, they need to become proactive and focus on seeing
their solicitations through a funder’s perspective. For example,
writing a proposal in a manner that addresses a funder’s objectives
and concerns outlining the unique features, benefits and outcomes the
school can bring to a partnership with the funder is more effective
that simply repeating that your school is the best choice for funding.
Your focus should be on developing a partnership with a funder that
will benefit both organizations.
Finally, a strategic
review of your school’s current approach to locating sources of
training funding can be a valuable exercise. For example, do all of
your staff feel that development is part of their responsibilities,
resulting in each staff person constantly looking for developing funding
opportunities as they expand their networks in the community? In addition,
how does your school stay current with changing labor market conditions?
Are you aware of business expansions and contractions? Both of these
conditions might create an expanded need for vocational training resources,
such as customized contract training opportunities for expanding businesses
or dislocated worker retraining opportunities for workforce reductions.
Written by Sandy
Smith who manages the EN Capitalization Project for the MAXIMUS-Social
Security Administration Ticket to Work Program. Ms. Smith serves on
the Board of Directors of Professional Truck Driver Institute and on
Certification Committee of this organization.
Top
U.S.
COURT OF APPEALS VACATES "NEW" HOS RULES
Contact:
Rich Clemente, Director of Safety
703-838-8847 or rclemente@truckload.org
July 16, 2004
The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court issued an opinion
this past Friday vacating the “new” hours of service (HOS)
rules in their entirety and sending them back to the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA). In reviewing the 22-page Court of Appeals
document, the primary reason the Court gives for their decision is quoted
verbatim as follows, "We hold that the final rule is arbitrary
and capricious because the agency neglected to consider a statutorily
mandated factor -- the impact of the rule on the health of drivers.
In promulgating ‘regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety,’
and HOS regulations are undoubtedly on that exact subject, the FMCSA
is required ‘[a]t a minimum [to] ensure that….the operation
of commercial motor vehicles does not have a deleterious effect on the
physical condition of the operators.’” As the Court of Appeals
presents the driver health issue as the primary reason to vacate the
“new” HOS rules, in their decision they also specify other
concerns they have with them. The Court states that while “[they]
will not render final decision on the petitioners’ other objections
to the rule” they have concerns with the following [listed in
order]: 1) increased driving hours from 10 to 11; 2) Sleeper-Berth Exception;
and 3) the Agency’s failure to mandate Electronic On-Board Recorders
(EOBRs).
As for the “where
do we go from here” question, this is the latest information we
have heard up to the minute. The Official Court order will come down
on Friday, July 23 and the FMCSA will then have 45 days to respond and
“decide its next steps.” Therefore, it is our understanding
today that the “new” HOS rules will remain in effect for
that 52-day period of time. FMCSA officials have confirmed this, and
announced that they will continue enforcing the “new” HOS
rules during at least that time frame. Also, under the Court’s
rules, the agency may seek a greater delay in the effective date of
the decision – for 90 days or more – by asking the Court
to issue a stay of its decision. No formal appeals have been filed yet
on the Court decision at this time. A formal opinion, along with guidance
to the trucking industry, is expected to be issued sometime later this
afternoon or early next week from the FMCSA, which is anticipated to
be posted on their website at some point. FMCSA’s website is:
www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
TCA will keep you posted on all of these latest developments as they
occur.
A copy of the U.S.
Court of Appeals decision is available by clicking
here.
Top
Do You Have Thoughts on Truck Stop Electrification?
The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Notice of data availability and request
for public comment in the July 8, 2004 Federal Register, in
which the agency is seeking industry comments on ways to develop national
standards for providing electric infrastructure at truck stops for use
by long-haul trucks. This action results from a Presidential directive,
in the May 2001 National Energy Policy, to the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop a
program for reducing long-duration truck engine idling. The EPA recognizes
that various technologies, strategies, and behaviors can effectively
reduce long-duration idling while providing the truck driver with essential
needs such as heat or air conditioning. Truck stop electrification (TSE)
is one of the many strategies being looked at to reduce idling. TSE
allows the electrical grid to supply power to truck on-board components
or stationary components for heating, cooling and other needs. However,
uniform standards for on-board TSE equipment, on-site power systems,
and connection compatibility do not currently exist.
Many different and
divergent codes and standards potentially could be applied to TSE, including
those set forth by some of the following organizations: the National
Electrical Code (NEC), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Underwriter
Laboratories (UL), the National Electrical Manufacturers Association
(NEMA), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and the Canadian Electrical
Code (CEC). In the notice, EPA is asking a series of questions on the
following topics as they relate to TSE: on-board system power needs,
off-board power needs, connection compatibility and safety, and system
design.
Industry comments
on this Notice must be filed with the EPA by August 9, 2004. A copy
of the July 8, 2004 Federal Register notice can be accessed
by clicking
here for an HTML and here
for a PDF.For further questions or feedback, contact Rich Clemente
at (703) 838-8847 or by email: rclemente@truckload.org.
Top
Corrections To Haz-Mat Regulations Issued
The DOT’s
Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) issued a final rule
in the July 13 Federal Register that makes minor editorial
corrections in the 49 CFR 172.101 Hazardous Materials Table (HMT) that
were made during the recent publication of 49 CFR Parts 100 to 185.
In this most recent publication, a number of entries in the HMT were
inadvertently removed, and this is the reason for the July 13 notice.
These errors were the result
of a misunderstanding concerning the amendatory language in the final
rules that affected the HMT, and in particular, Docket HM-215E issued
on July 31, 2003. This RSPA ruling amended the HM regulations (49 CFR
Parts 171-173, 175-176, 178 and 180) to more closely follow international
standards. Of particular note in that rule were amendments to the HMT
which added, revised or removed certain proper shipping names, hazard
classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations,
air transport quantity limitations and vessel stowage requirements.
RSPA stated that these revisions were necessary to facilitate the transport
of HM in international commerce because of changes to the International
Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code), the International Civil Aviation
Organization’s Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of
Dangerous Goods by Air (ICAO Technical Instructions) and the United
Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UN Recommendations).
The effective date
of the July 13 corrections notice is October 1, 2004, and RSPA is authorizing
immediate voluntary compliance. A copy of the July 13 rule as it appeared
in the Register can be found by clicking
here for an HTML and here
for a PDF. If you have any questions please contact Rich Clemente
at (703) 838-8847 or by email: rclemente@truckload.org.
Top
Looking for Info on the New Entry-Level Driver Regulations?
Do you need more
detailed information on the new Entry-Level Driver Regulations? To address
the new regulations, PTDI and Thomson Delmar Learning are developing
a new manual that will be available soon. This product will have two
components: a booklet that fits into your glove box which includes the
regulation information, an assessment section, and printed certificates;
and a CD-ROM which has PDF files of the manual and an automatically
scored assessment portion that prints a certificate. Please contact
us Rich Clemente, Director of PTDI at 703-838-8847 or Delmar at truckdriving@delmar.com
for more information.
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