TAXPAYERS ARE ENTITLED TO FULL VIP DISCLOSURE

Missouri, like most other states, has drastically changed its approach to its disabled residents, particularly the mentally handicapped, in just the past two or three decades. It was only 25 or 30 years ago that most mentally handicapped individuals were institutionalized in large, state-run centers. Now group homes have become the norm.

Group homes stress individual skills involving personal hygiene, relationships and responsibility. A key component of this structured lifestyle is receiving job training and holding a job. Many businesses have provided employment for those with mental disabilities. But for many, sheltered workshops have played an important role.

There are more than 90 sheltered workshops across Missouri. Workers receive highly individualized training. Typically, jobs performed by sheltered workshop employees are highly repetitive. Workers learn how to do something, and then they do it over and over during a normal work day. The workshop employees receive pay that is usually based on how much they accomplish. In general, pay levels are considerably lower than minimum wage.

Major corporations contract with sheltered workshops to have certain jobs done. Contracts with sheltered workshops cost less than hiring employees at even the minimum wage, plus there is no overhead for benefits, overtime or worker's compensation claims.

In this area, VIP Industries of Cape Girardeau has been the primary operator of sheltered workshops, including the one in Perryville where four supervisors of the handicapped workers have quit amid complaints about the pay structure for the workers and overall management.

As with most internal employment disputes, there are many sides. Threads of information that have been made public since the supervisors quit last week have left many fuzzy areas up in the air. But it seems clear that there are questions left to be answered.

Because the VIP workshops receive tax revenue $190,000 annually and because the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education funds the workshops, there is a responsibility on the part of the VIP board and management to take whatever steps are necessary to clear up any misunderstandings or problems that seem to be coming to a head.

Moreover, county commissioners in those counties with VIP-operated workshops have a responsibility to safeguard the tax funds that are involved. At a minimum, those commissioners are entitled to ask for and receive satisfactory explanations of what's going on and full accountability for the funding. Right now there are far more rumors than facts being circulated. That needs to change.