Statement of Administration Policy: S. 1109 - Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act Amendments of 1989

(Senate)
(Pell (D) RI and six others)

The Administration supports S. 1109 as an improvement on current law and believes that it is preferable to the House-passed reauthorization bill (H.R. 7).

S. 1109 incorporates many of the themes contained in the Administration's proposal, S. 1133. S. 1109 would emphasize program improvement and accountability, coordination of vocational education with labor market needs, and concentration on serving those in greatest need. The bill would also maintain a strong State role and would give States the flexibility required to achieve an effective program under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act.

The Administration recommends, however, the following changes to S. 1109:

—  Deletion of the numerous categorical programs and restrictive funding requirements. These include categorical funding for consumer and homemaking education, and for community-based organizations, and the unnecessarily complex minimum funding requirements under title IV governing national programs.

—  Deletion of a requirement to use a private intermediary (i.e. the Center for the Advancement of Pacific Education in Honolulu) to distribute public funds for vocational education. Instead, direct grants to each of the Pacific territories should be authorized as under current law.

—  Deletion of the arbitrary allocation of basic State grant funds between secondary and postsecondary programs, which may cause disruption of vocational education services in some States.

—  Inclusion of the State council on vocational education as part of a unified State human resource investment council. This would facilitate coordination of vocational education programs with related rehabilitation, adult education, and job training programs.

—  Deletion of the provision creating an Office of Correctional Education within the Department of Education. Decisions about the structure and organization of the department should be left to the Secretary's discretion.

—  Deletion of the provisions requiring the creation of a nationally accessible data base of State wage and earning records. Such a costly national data base would pose significant problems regarding access to, and uses of, information on individual American citizens.

—  Deletion of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands from inclusion in Federal vocational education programs. S. 1109's inclusion of these entities is inconsistent with the Compact of Free Association entered into with these sovereign nations, and would result in these entities receiving the benefits of both freely associated state status and trust territory status.