In Boonton, N.J., Linda Mauriello helps young people with disabilities prepare to enter the work force after they leave school. They learn to set career goals, create resumes and build relationships at work. Sometimes they get help finding internships and receive support on the job, too.

One student with multiple disabilities trained at a school cafeteria, got hired and is still working there five years later. A student with autism trained at the local Walgreens, learning time management and working with customers. He was hired and is now in charge of opening up the store.

Ms. Mauriello is a big fan of the program. “My students have really benefited from it,” she said.

But hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities who are eligible for similar assistance do not receive it. The federal and state governments spend about half a billion dollars each year for such services, but most parents — and even some school officials — don’t even know the program exists.

In 2023, New Jersey had the nation’s lowest proportion — roughly 2 percent — of eligible students getting help, according to a Hechinger Report analysis of government data.

For 10 years, New Jersey’s program has languished. And the state’s decentralized school governance system has hampered efforts to get the services into schools.

Interviews with dozens of advocates, educators and parents depict a confusing bureaucratic maze, one that leaves tens of thousands of students without services.