Vocational Education: The Federal Role. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. Senate.

Overview & Synopsis

The focus of federal involvement in vocational education should be to help enhance its quality and expand its capacity to meet work force needs in the future. Although success or failure of vocational education lies ultimately at the local level, there should be, from the federal level, motivation, support, and leadership to define the larger picture and serve as a catalyst for collective efforts. The Vocational Education Act of 1963 and the Amendments of 1968 and 1976 have succeeded in stimulating state and local dollars for expanding vocational education. The federal governments should, however, invest more in the vocational education system--at least as much as it invests in remedial job training programs. To continue the federal-state-local partnership that has made a substantial investment in building the capacity of vocational-technical education, this set of principles should be the basis for reauthorization of the Vocational Education Act: targeted priorities, economic development, addressing of needs of special populations, flexibility, planning and evaluation, determination of allocation of resources at the state level, retention of the sole state agency concept, and requirement of autonomous advisory councils. (YLB)