Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act
Encyclopedia
The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act was first authorized by the federal government
Federal government
The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...

 in 1984 and reauthorized in 1998. Named for Carl D. Perkins
Carl D. Perkins
Carl Dewey Perkins , a Democrat, was a politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Kentucky.-Early years:Perkins was born in Hindman, Kentucky...

, the act aims to increase the quality of technical education within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in order to help the economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

.

On August 12, 2006 President George W Bush signed into law the reauthorization of the Act of 1998. The new law, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, was passed almost unanimously by Congress in late July, 2006.

The new law includes three major areas of revision:
  • 1) Using the term "career and technical education" instead of "vocational education"
  • 2) Maintaining the Tech Prep program as a separate federal funding stream within the legislation
  • 3) Maintaining state administrative funding at 5 percent of a state’s allocation


The new law also includes new requirements for “programs of study” that link academic and technical content across secondary and postsecondary education, and strengthened local accountability provisions that will ensure continuous program improvement.

The Perkins Act provides almost $1.3 billion in federal support for career and technical education programs in all 50 States, including support for integrated career pathways
Career Pathways
Career Pathways is a workforce development strategy used in the U.S. to support workers’ transitions from education into and through the workforce. This strategy has been adopted at the federal, state and local levels in order to increase education, training and learning opportunities for...

 programs. The law will extend through 2012.

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