The history of federal government involvement in vocational and technical education goes back to 1917. The Smith-Hughes Act, passed in that year, became the first piece of legislation in a  continuous, unbroken chain of federal assistance for post-secondary education, until now.

The Bush administration has eliminated funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act in its proposed 2009 budget. This program helps states to fund technical education for about 17 million students nationwide. This comes at a time when the nation is being challenged to up-skill multitudes of people being displaced from jobs that have shifted to other countries. This key program also helps out with advanced trades training and I am sure a wealth of other construction training needs.

I’ll be the first to admit that just because a program has been around a long time doesn’t mean it should have carte blanche and just be automatically re-funded, but that’s not the case here. Career/technical/vocational education, under an assortment of names over the past 100 years has weathered the typical economic ups and downs, been aggressively funded and minimally funded, been scrutinized and taken apart and reassembled, and Perkins was not only re-authorized but was strengthened in 2006. One Senator, Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote:

The President’s budget proposes the elimination of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act, despite the fact that Congress re-authorized and strengthened this program three years ago and the President signed the reauthorization bill into law.

Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY 5th) wrote of his concerns about not funding Perkins:

It greatly concerned me after I read an email from some teachers talking about the funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act being cut. This program does work and it gives students the chance to gain an education in a field of study that they normally wouldn’t be able to get. I have known people who have started a college career and job only to find they didn’t like it and I have known people who have succeeded only because of Career Technical Education giving them a good look at if they would like a certain job.

Janet Bray the executive director for the Association for Career and Technical Education had this to say in a press release on the subject:

We are extremely disappointed with the President’s decision to terminate Perkins funding this year. Not only does CTE play a critical role in providing the necessary skills and knowledge for students to remain competitive in today’s workforce, but it is an important part of school reform. These programs are helping to reduce dropout rates through engaging “hands on” coursework that improves student understanding and application of academic knowledge . Funding for the Perkins Act is essential, and it has already proven to be successful and should NOT be shortchanged.

Rich Katt, president of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium said:

At a time when we’re discussing the need for economic stimulus to avoid recession, we should be investing in programs that put Americans into the many high skill, high wage jobs that are available. Instead, we stand today in disappointment and disbelief that President Bush has decided to once again eliminate career technical education, one of our nation’s leading workforce and economic development programs.

Perhaps this budget, like so many recently, will never be totally enacted and we can have a return to sanity just nine months from now. If you would like to see how the current crop of presidential candidates stack up on education here is a link.

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