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Office of Budget

Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Accountability Report
Published November 15, 2005

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Strategic Goal Two: Smooth Transition to Civilian Life

Strategic Objective 2.2: Decisions on Education Claims

Provide timely and accurate decisions on education claims and continue payments at appropriate levels to enhance veterans' and servicemembers' ability to achieve educational and career goals.

Performance Trends and Impact of FY 2005 Results

Performance Trend FY 2005 Impact
Key Measure: Average Days to Complete Original Education Claims
2001 50
2002 34
2003 23
2004 26
2005 Result 33
2005 Plan 25
2006 Plan 27
Strategic Target 10
The average number of days to process original claims increased 7 days during 2005. On average, beneficiaries waited these additional days to receive their initial award notification and payment. The importance of making timely payments to veterans for educational claims is critical to helping them meet their educational goals.
Key Measure: Average Days to Complete Supplemental Education Claims
2001 24
2002 16
2003 12
2004 13
2005 Result 19
2005 Plan 13
2006 Plan 13
Strategic Target 7
The average number of days to process supplemental claims increased 6 days during 2005. On average, beneficiaries waited these additional days to receive their award notification and payment. The importance of making timely payments to veterans for educational claims is critical to helping them meet their educational goals.
Supporting Measure: Payment accuracy rate (Education)
2001 92%
2002 93%
2003 94%
2004 94%
2005 Result 96%
2005 Plan 95%
2006 Plan 95%
Strategic Target 97%
The payment accuracy rate for claims processing improved by more than 2 percentage points in 2005. This means more beneficiaries are receiving the correct payment for their educational assistance benefit award.

Related Information

Major Management Challenges

Neither VA's Office of the Inspector General nor the Government Accountability Office identified any major management challenges related to this objective.

Program Evaluations

No independent program evaluations have been conducted recently that specifically address this objective.

Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Evaluation

In relation to this strategic objective, the Administration conducted a PART evaluation of VA's Education program during 2003, which resulted in a rating of "Results Not Demonstrated." Please see Summary Table 3 for more information.

New Policies and Procedures

During the next year, VA will work to develop a method to measure the percentage of Montgomery GI Bill participants who successfully completed an education or training program. In addition, the Education Service has been working with the National Association of State Approving Agencies to develop an outcome measure for the VA education assistance programs. VA will continue to develop the methodology to collect required data and determine targets.

Following the development of strong outcome measures, the necessary information will be available to develop and recommend changes to the educational assistance programs and thereby improve education benefits for veterans, reservists, servicemembers, and dependents.