Florida Announces New Chancellor and a New Division: Division of Employment Opportunity and Independence
November 9, 2026
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Florida Announces New Chancellor and a New Division: Division of Employment Opportunity and Independence
Vocational Rehabilitation and Blind Services will aim to create more seamless pathways to independence, education, training, and meaningful employment for individuals with disabilities
Tallahassee, Fla., November 9, 2026–Today, Commissioner Mack announced that the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) and the Division of Blind Services (DBS) will now be supervised by one administrator, Chancellor Kelly Rogers, under a new organizational title, the “Division of Employment Opportunity and Independence (DEOI)”. Unifying DVR and DBS will create more seamless pathways to independence, education, training, and meaningful employment for people with disabilities.
Kelly Rogers has over 25 years leading programs to improve outcomes for Florida’s families, including the state’s early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities, programs to improve maternal and child health outcomes, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Most recently, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education.
“Ending the dual bureaucracy while protecting specialized disability and blind services is critical to the future of the Florida economy and the individuals we aim to uplift,” said Dr. Henry Mack, Commissioner of Education. “Floridians with disabilities do not live in two separate worlds, yet we still run two rehabilitation bureaucracies—two leadership teams, two plans, two IT systems, two sets of offices and compliance monitoring, two employer services teams—to do the same federally funded job. Every counselor, every dollar, every employer relationship should be pointed at one outcome: competitive, integrated employment for all Floridians with disabilities seeking competitive and integrated employment.”
Drawing on her professional experience and that of a mother of an adult son with autism, Chancellor Rogers brings the leadership, vision, administration, resources, reporting, and strategic planning of DVR and DBS into a unified structure. The new division will focus on more seamless pathways to independence, education, training, and meaningful employment, along with stronger connections between Floridians with disabilities and employers seeking talented workers.
Both divisions already operate under the same federal Rehabilitation Act and the same Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) Combined State Plan. The new division head will allow the Department to preserve and strengthen both programs' specialized services, while removing silos and barriers for critical workforce services for Floridians with disabilities.
Specialized staff, counselors, subject matter experts, administrators, and provider networks will continue serving the distinct needs of individuals who rely on DVR and DBS services.
The new model demonstrates opportunities for stronger coordination, operational efficiency, accountability, statewide consistency, and alignment with federal performance and reporting requirements. Florida will apply stakeholder feedback, fiscal and operational analysis, and the unique needs of the communities served by both programs.
“I am honored to return home to Florida and committed to ensuring that Floridians with disabilities receive high-quality, fiscally responsible and individualized services that lead to meaningful employment and independence,” said Chancellor Kelly Rogers. “By leading both DVR and DBS, we will establish a seamless system with one mission: strengthen Florida’s economy with the many skills and talents individuals with disabilities bring to the workforce system.”
In the coming months, the Commissioner and Chancellor will listen to feedback from individuals with disabilities, families, staff, providers, employers, advocates, partners, educators, and community organizations. The feedback received will help shape the establishment and implementation of the Division of Employment Opportunity and Independence.
Fast Facts:
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DVR served 45,727 jobseekers in 2025-26, completed 14,198 employment plans, and closed 5,144 cases with employment (up 5.5%). It operates with 878 authorized positions and 89 field offices. Its federal VR grant was $218.9 million in FY 2026.
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DBS’s vocational rehabilitation program serves about 5,000 clients a year and recorded 1,018 employment successes in the most recently completed year—the highest in the agency’s history. It has approximately 280 positions. Its federal VR grant was $44.8 million in FY 2026.
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Combined, the two divisions represent more than 1,150 positions and well over $350 million in annual resources, plus overlapping employer outreach, eligibility work, case-management system processes, and administrative infrastructure.
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Florida still has a large employment gap: an estimated 2.83 million working-age Floridians have a disability (13.7% of the population). Only 23.9 percent of working-age Floridians with a disability are employed, compared with 63.7% of those without a disability.
- Florida already requires a cooperative agreement between the two divisions because the same person can be eligible for both programs.