With help from the Minnesota vocational rehabilitation program, Lacey Athey got a job while she was still in high school at a thrift store where she sorts through racks of recycled clothing. (David Joles/Star Tribune/TNS)

In a recently-published report, the Government Accountability Office found that about 80 percent of state vocational rehabilitation agencies have increased the number of transition-age youth with disabilities served since 2014. These results stem from provisions in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act seeking to decrease employment in sheltered workshops. The report also noted, however, that confusing spending rules resulted in less spending than required by the act.