Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act

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The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act was first authorized by the federal government in 1984 and reauthorized in 1998. Named for Carl D. Perkins, the act aims to increase the quality of technical education within the United States in order to help the economy.

On August 14, 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. The law will extend through 2012.