Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act
The Workforce Board is designated by the Governor and Legislature to oversee funds received through the federal Carl D. Perkins Strengthening Career and Technical Education (CTE) for the 21st Century Act of 2018 (Perkins V) –a multi-million dollar federal grant that helps educators better prepare students for the workplace through hands-on, career focused teaching and other strategies. Get more information about the Perkins Act and how it helps fund career and technical education in Washington’s public schools and community and technical colleges. Read the most recent Consolidated Annual Report (CAR) for 2022-2023.
Career and technical education (CTE) connects students in an experiential way to what they are learning, whether it’s witnessing the complex chemistry behind the internal combustion engine or writing a detailed quarterly business plan. Academics and job skills, when taught together, can focus a student’s attention on career goals and provide the tools to reach those goals.
Employer demand for students with this blend of academics and job skill training continues to grow especially in high-demand fields such as healthcare and construction.
Return on Investment for students and taxpayers
Workforce Board studies show high school CTE students and professional/technical students in the state’s community and technical colleges pay back the public’s investment in their career-focused education and training by earning more and, therefore, paying more in taxes. For example, in the 2017 study, participants who completed a high school CTE program were expected to earn almost $47,000 more by the time they reach 65 than those who did not participate in CTE. For participants of a professional/technical program at a community or technical college, projected net benefits to age 65 totalled $116,000 in earnings, and $46,000 in employee benefits.
Get more information on these and other workforce programs at Workforce Training Results report.
Perkins was reauthorized in July, 2018. Learn about the changes here.
More About Perkins and CTE
Perkins V details
To view Perkins V in its entirety go HERE. The new act took effect July 1, 2019.
The Workforce Board’s role includes preparing and adopting a state plan, tracking state-level expenditures, establishing and tracking performance targets and submitting annual reports to the U.S. Department of Education.
For 2021-2022, Washington received approximately $24 million in Perkins funds. It’s divided up among the Workforce Board, the state’s community and technical colleges (State Board for Community and Technical Colleges), and the state’s K-12 system (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction).
Get connected to CTE programs and initiatives
Get connected to CTE programs and initiatives
- See what’s new in career and technical education at the state’s education department.
- Find contact information for Perkins stakeholders across Washington.
- Find out what’s happening with CTE at community and technical colleges.
- Learn more about career clusters and their related occupations.
CTE Video Project
Workforce Board awarded grant to promote CTE
The Workforce Board was awarded a $20,000 grant from Advance CTE in 2017 to promote high quality Career and Technical Education to Washington students and their parents. We were the only state to launch a student-driven video project, asking students to shoot their own videos about the value of CTE. Watch videos from the winning teams. Funding helped pay to administer the project, create two sample videos, and a step-by-step toolkit for students.