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Change in Distribution of Title I, Part A, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Secondary Reserve Grant for 2017-18

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April 18, 2017                         

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED       

SUBJECT: Change in Distribution of Title I, Part A, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Secondary Reserve Grant for 2017-18

Perkins Reserve Grant and Career and Technical Education

The Carl D Perkins Secondary Reserve Grant (“Perkins Reserve Grant”) is authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, Section 112(a)(1). States may reserve not more than 10 percent (of the 85 percent of the total allotment for formula grants) for distribution to:
 

  1. Local programs in rural areas: defined as a rural and/or sparsely populated Local Education Agency (LEA) is determined based on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Locale Code eligibility requirements for Title VI of ESEA, Rural Education Initiative (Locale Code 6, 7 or 8);
     
  2. Areas with high numbers of Career and Technical Education (CTE) students: an LEA with 200 or more CTE concentrators (code 2) in grades 9–12 is considered an LEA with high numbers of CTE students; or,
     
  3. Areas with high percentages of CTE students: an LEA with 25 percent or more of the total student population in grades 9–12 are CTE concentrators (code 2) is considered a high percentage LEA.


The purpose of the Perkins Reserve Grant is to assist LEAs in a) the preparation of students who enroll in a coherent sequence of CTE courses for high-skill, high-wage, and/or high-demand occupations, in emerging and nontraditional fields; and b) strengthening linkages between secondary and postsecondary CTE programs of study.

Historically, the Agency has distributed Perkins Reserve Grant funds as an incentive award to applicants who met or exceeded at least four of five state-level performance measures for accountability (1S1, 1S2, 3S1, 4S1, and 5S1) under the federal grant. The amount of Perkins Reserve Grant funds distributed to qualifying school districts has represented a percentage of their total Perkins grant allocation. Applicants who met all prescribed performance measures have received a higher award than those who only met four of the five.


Change in Distribution of Perkins Reserve Funds

Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, the TEA will change its approach for distribution of the Perkins Reserve Grant. Instead of distributing funds through a formula to qualifying LEAs, the Agency will use the funds to offer several competitive grant opportunities with specific focus areas (to be announced this summer). The basis for this change is threefold:

  1. Focused grant program opportunities will allow many LEAs to take advantage of greater funding opportunities for innovative programs than currently available. This is particularly true for small and rural school districts, some of which receive less than $1,000 annually in incentive funds under the current approach.
     
  2. Repurposing the Perkins Grant Reserve funds to provide more robust grantmaking opportunities will both increase the impact of limited funds and incentivize CTE pathway initiatives aligned to business and industry needs.
     
  3. The change in approach more accurately reflects the US Department of Education’s intent for the federal Perkins Reserve Grant.

The Agency is aware that this change may have a fiscal impact on some school and district CTE programs, and we ask CTE directors and administrators to plan accordingly. However, we fully expect that this change in approach will provide LEAs with more options and resources to continue their work implementing innovative, industry-aligned CTE programs.

The TEA will be developing the Perkins Reserve Grant applications for the upcoming school year over the coming weeks. We will release a follow-up correspondence in June 2017 to announce the new Perkins Reserve Grant opportunities with details about focus areas, applications, and awards.

Questions regarding this letter may be submitted to cte@tea.texas.gov.

Sincerely,
 

Quentin Suffren
Executive Director
College, Career, and Military Preparation

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