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WIBs need to develop a number of very important policies including the following and those shown below:

1. Certifying Who Is Eligible for Training:
What is the issue? If WIA was funded at the same level as the GI Bill, anyone who wanted training could receive it. Since it is not, local WIBs have the responsibility for determining how training dollars are distributed. Labor representatives on WIBs need to decide what policy to advocate. One consideration should be that those workers who need training to obtain a living wage or maintain a wage level receive priority.

Once it is determined who gets priority for training, the certification process should be simple, fast, and non-bureaucratic.

Restrictive work-first policies should not be used to deny workers access to training, and participants who need training should not have to go through a lengthy job search process to prove that they are unemployable. The faster an individual begins training, the faster they can obtain the skills they need to get a job with a good income and benefits.

The WIB will need to establish a policy providing guidance on the criteria to be used for certifying that an individual is eligible for training. With that policy in place, the program counselor should be allowed to directly determine that an individual needs training to obtain new employment. The counselor can work with the participant to assess their current skills, compare those skills to local labor market demand with an emphasis on landing a good job, and develop a training and career plan that works toward that goal. These activities allow the certification process to be made directly and quickly and through a procedure that emphasizes good employment.

• Certifying who is eligible for training
• Certifying training providers
• Defining Individual Training Accounts (ITAs)
• Determining when contract training can be used
• Setting standards for On-the-Job Training
• Determining when customized training programs will be developed, for which employers, and with what kind of standards.
• Determining if there are sufficient funds to provide incumbent worker training, the conditions under which it will be provided, and standards for this training.
• Determining how and when to use other funding sources for training.

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