The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) was signed into law on July 31, 2018. This bipartisan measure reauthorized the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) and continued Congress’ commitment in providing nearly $1.4 billion annually for CTE programs for our nation’s youth and adults.
Perkins V represents an important opportunity to expand opportunities for every student to explore, choose, and follow career and technical education programs of study and career pathways to earn credentials of value. As States and local communities embark on the development of new plans for CTE, the Department hopes that the videos, resources, links, and media found below and throughout this Website can be useful tools for States and local recipients in "rethinking CTE" and arriving at bold goals under the newly-authorized Perkins V statute.
History of the Act
The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 was the first authorization for the Federal funding of vocational education. Subsequent legislation for vocational education (now termed career and technical education) included the Vocational Act or 1973 and the Carl D. Perkins Act of 1984 (Perkins). Perkins was reauthorized as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act (Perkins II) in 1990, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins III), and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV).
Legislation
- Compilation of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) from the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Public Law 115-224)
- Committee Report on the Perkins V Act from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee
- Perkins IV Act
- Perkins III Act
- Perkins II Act - Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990
- Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act
- Vocational Education Amendments of 1976
- Vocational Education Amendments of 1968
- Vocational Education Act of 1963
- Smith-Hughes Act of 1917