Vocational Education Excellence Act of 1989

Vocational Education Excellence Act of 1989 - Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act (the Act) to reauthorize and revise it programs.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1990 through 1994 for: (1) State administration of vocational education programs; (2) State councils on vocational education; (3) basic State grants; and (4) national programs.

Revises allotment and allocation formulas for vocational education assistance to the States.

Revises Indian vocational education programs and repeals programs for Hawaiian natives.

Revises State organizational and planning responsibilities. Requires State plans to describe the performance standards to be used. Authorizes the Secretary of Education to establish minimum requirements for acceptable State performance standards which are consistent with comparable requirements under the Job Training Partnership Act.

Changes the Federal share of the costs of specified activities and programs. Revises maintenance of effort provisions. Eliminates certain provisions relating to withholding of payments and judicial review.

Revises provisions for Basic State Grants for vocational education, including the opportunities program and policy for general program improvement, innovation, and expansion.

Requires States to use specified funds to meet the needs on the State plan for one or more of the following: (1) professional development and improve ment of vocational teachers, counselors, and administrators (including exchange programs with industry); (2) acquisition of instructional equipment and materials; and (3) curriculum development, field-testing of new or revised programs (for no more than three years), and dissemination. Allows State to use such funds to support activities jointly undertaken by eligible recipients and community-based organizations of demonstrated effectiveness.

Repeals Special Programs provisions for: (1) State assistance for vocational education support programs by community-based organization; (2) consumer and homemaker education; (3) adult training, retraining, and employment development; (4) comprehensive career guidance and counseling programs; and (5) industry-education partnership for training in high-technology occupations.

Revises national program provisions for: (1) research and evaluation; (2) demonstration programs; (3) the occupational information system; and (4) bilingual vocational training.

Changes from mandatory to discretionary the Secretary's authority to conduct research on and evaluations of vocational education programs, activities, and trends. Repeals provisions for: (1) a national assessment of vocational education programs; and (2) the National Center for Research in Vocational Education. Directs the Secretary to establish and support one or more centers for research in vocational education.

Repeals provisions for: (1) State equipment pools; (2) demonstration centers for the retraining of dislocated workers; and (3) model centers for vocational education for older individuals.

Revises the Act and the General Education Provisions Act regarding a national vocational education data reporting and accounting system.

Amends the Job Training Partnership Act, among other things, to rename the National Commission for Employment Policy as the National Commission on Employment and Vocational Education Policy.

Amends the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to repeal demonstration programs for education for employment for technological literacy.

Amends the Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Act to terminate at the end of FY 1989 annual appropriations for grants to States to help pay the costs: (1) of preparation and salaries of teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects and teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial subjects; and (2) of studies of vocational education.

Makes conforming amendments to the Bilingual Education Act, the Education for Economic Security Act, and the Education of the Handicapped Act.