Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 - Amends the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act (the Act) to retitle it the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 1995 to carry out the Act. Includes funding for title I vocational education assistance to the States (with portions reserved for Indian and Hawaiian natives programs, programs in U.S. territories, and State councils on vocational education) and for title II basic State grants for vocational education. Includes funding for the following title III special programs: (1) State assistance for vocational education support programs by community-based organizations; (2) consumer and homemaking education; (3) career guidance and counseling; (4) business-education-labor partnerships; (5) tech-prep education; (6) supplementary State grants for improvement of facilities and acquisition of equipment; (7) community education employment centers and vocational education lighthouse schools; and (8) tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions. Includes funding for the following title IV national programs: (1) research and development; (2) demonstration programs; (3) vocational education and occupational information data systems; (4) the National Council on Vocation Education (in a limited amount for FY 1991 only); and (5) bilingual vocational training (in a limited amount for FY 1991 only). Requires that title II funding reach a specified minimum level before the following title III programs may be funded: (1) comprehensive career guidance and counseling programs; (2) business-labor-education partnerships; and (3) community education employment centers and vocational education lighthouse schools.

Establishes the Interdepartmental Task Force on Vocational Education and Related Programs to: (1) examine principal data required for programs under the Act, the Adult Education Act, the Job Training Partnership Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Wagner-Peyser Act; (2) examine possible common objectives and standards for such programs; and (3) consider integration of federally assisted research and development in the area of vocation education and related areas, including areas of emerging technologies.

Amends the Job Training Partnership Act and the Wagner-Peyser Act to provide for joint funding of applicable programs under these two Acts and the Act. Allows States to use funds under any one of these three Acts as additional funds for applicable programs under any other of the three Acts, under specified conditions.

Title I: Vocational Education Assistance to States - Part A: Allotment and Allocation - Revises the Act with respect to allotments, within State reservation, Indian and Native Hawaiian programs, and U.S. territories.

Part B: State Organizational and Planning Responsibilities - Revises the Act with respect to State administration, State council on vocational education, State plans and their approval, State and local standards and measures, State assessment, program evaluation and improvement, and criteria for services and activities for individuals who are members of special populations.

Title II: Basic State Grants - Revises the Act's title II provisions for basic State grants for vocational education.

Sets forth revised State Programs, under which States must use specified reserved funds to conduct programs and leadership activities. Requires such programs and activities to include: (1) professional development activities for vocational teachers and academic teachers working with vocational education students, including educators and counselors in corrections or in community organizations, and including inservice and preservice training, with emphasis on minority teachers; (2) curricula development, dissemination, and field testing, especially of curricula integrating vocational and academic methods and curricula with coherent course sequences through which skills may be measured; and (3) program assessment, including performance standards, measures, improvement, and accountability. Allows such programs and activities to include: (1) promotion of partnerships among various sectors; (2) support for tech-prep education; (3) support of vocational student organizations, especially efforts to increase minority participation; (4) technology education leadership and instruction; and (5) data collection.

Sets forth revised Other State-Administered Programs including programs for: (1) single parents, displaced homemakers, and single pregnant women; (2) sex equity; and (3) corrections education. Requires a competitive awards process and evaluation. Requires designation, and sets forth the duties, of one or more State corrections educational agencies to administer vocational education programs under the Act for juvenile and adult criminal offenders in correctional institutions in the State, including those operated by local authorities.

Sets forth revised Secondary, Postsecondary, and Adult Vocational Education Programs, including provisions for: (1) within-State allocation; (2) priority, required, and authorized uses of funds; and (3) local applications to State boards.

Title III: Special Programs - Revises the Act's title III provisions for special programs.

Adds model programs for school dropouts to the list of authorized uses of funds under State assistance for vocational education support programs by community-based organizations.

Adds to the authorized uses of consumer and homemaking education grants instruction in individual and family health and nutrition, response to family violence and child abuse, prevention of teenage pregnancy, and assistance to the homeless and other members of at-risk populations.

Repeals certain provisions for adult training, retraining, and employment development.

Revises provisions for comprehensive career guidance and counseling programs. Adds development of career information delivery systems to the list of examples of services and activities to ensure the quality and effectiveness of such programs.

Sets forth Business-Labor-Education Partnership for Training requirements. Makes labor organizations and other entities eligible as partners in such partnerships. Sets forth preferences for coordination of local groups and priorities for job training in areas with significant labor shortages, in the awarding of competitive and nationally distributed grants. Provides for a program scope broader than the current restriction to only high technology occupations. Makes a matching funds requirement inapplicable to small businesses or labor organizations.

Tech-Prep Education Act - Establishes a program of grants to consortia of local educational agencies and community colleges and other entities to provide tech-prep education programs. Defines "tech-prep education program" as a combined secondary and postsecondary program which: (1) leads to an associate degree or two-year certificate; (2) provides technical preparation in at least one field of engineering technology, applied science, mechanical, industrial, or practical art or trade, or agriculture, health, or business; (3) provides competence in mathematics, science, and communications (including through applied academics) through a sequential course of study; and (4) leads to placement in employment.

Directs the Secretary to make tech-prep program grants to consortia of: (1) local educational agencies, intermediate educational agencies, or area vocational schools serving secondary school students, or secondary schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and (2) nonprofit higher education institutions which offer a two-year associate degree or certificate program (including institutions assisted under the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978) or a two-year apprenticeship program that follows secondary instruction, or proprietary higher education institutions which offer a two-year associate degree program. Requires that such higher education institutions be qualified under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) and not be subject to a default management plan required by the Secretary. Provides that, in any fiscal year in which program funding exceeds a specified amount, that program allotments be made to States in accordance with a specified formula.

Requires each grant recipient to use the grant funds to develop and operate a four-year technical preparation education program with specified curricula.

Sets forth grant application and reporting requirements.

Provides for Supplementary State Grants for Facilities and Equipment and Other Program Improvement Activities. Sets forth formulas for State allotments and LEA allocations. Requires the State to distribute such grant to eligible LEAs for improving facilities and acquiring or leasing equipment. Sets forth requirements for State and local applications.

Provides for Community Education Centers and Vocational Education Lighthouse Schools.

Community Education Employment Center Act of 1990 - Authorizes the Secretary to make five-year grants to eligible recipients to establish and operate not more than ten community education employment centers nationwide to meet the needs of low-income youth in poor areas.

Sets forth various requirements for such programs, including giving students necessary education, skills, and support services to ensure: (1) graduation from secondary school; (2) successful transition to a broad range of postsecondary institutions; and (3) employment, including military service.

Sets forth requirements for such programs, support services, parental and community participation, professional staff, grantee eligibility, and applications.

Directs the Secretary to collect local evaluations and other additional information and to report to the Congress by October 1, 1995.

Authorizes the Secretary, under the Vocational Education Lighthouse Schools program, to make grants to secondary schools and area vocational education schools to establish and operate vocational education lighthouse schools which: (1) serve as a model vocational education program with specified characteristics; (2) provide information and assistance to other grant recipients, vocational programs, vocational education personnel, and specified others regarding curriculum and staff development and other specified matters; (3) use these funds, as well as non-Federal funds, to develop and implement model programs with specified elements; (4) develop comprehensive linkages with other local schools, community colleges, four-year colleges, private vocational schools, community-based organizations, labor unions, employers, and other business groups, as appropriate; and (5) develop and disseminate model approaches for meeting the education training and career counseling needs of minority students, disadvantaged students, students with handicaps, and students of limited English proficiency, and for reducing and eliminating sex bias and stereotyping.

Tribally Controlled Vocational Institutions Support Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary to make grants to tribally controlled postsecondary vocational institutions to provide basic support for the education and training of Indian students.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a detailed study of the training and housing needs of each such eligible institution eligible under this part; and (2) report on such study to the Congress by July 1, 1991. Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a long-term study of facilities of each such eligible institution; and (2) report on such study within 18 months after enactment of this Act. Directs the Secretary to submit progress reports to the Congress every six months on study activities. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to tribally controlled vocational institutions for construction, rehabilitation, major alterations, and renovation of buildings and other physical structures for the conduct of programs funded under this Act.

Tribal Economic Development and Technology Related Education Assistance Act of 1990 - Amends the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make grants to tribally controlled community colleges, which receive grants under either such Act or the Navajo Community College Act, to establish and support tribal economic development and education institutes. Requires programs assisted by such grants to include specified activities. Authorizes appropriations for such grants for FY 1991 through 1996.

Amends such Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a contract with a specified type of organization to establish and provide on an annual basis criteria to determine and prioritize consistently and equitably the facilities construction and renovation needs of colleges funded under such Act or the Navajo Community College Act.

Title IV: National Programs - Provides that the Secretary's vocational education research activities under the Act may be conducted through the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Includes in such activities: (1) research on effective methods of providing vocational education to single parents, displaced homemakers, and single pregnant women; and (2) research and evaluation of performance standards and measures.

Directs the Secretary to support meritorious unsolicited research proposals from individual researchers, community colleges, State advisory councils, and State and local educators relating to vocational education.

Directs the Secretary to use existing systems in establishing a system for disseminating research and development information. Directs the Secretary to establish a National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational and Technical Education

Revises requirements for the National Assessment of Vocational educational programs.

Directs the Office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI) of the Department of Education to: (1) conduct such assessment of programs assisted under the Act, through studies and analyses conducted independently through competitive awards; and (2) appoint an independent advisory panel to advise on implementation of such assessment. Revises the list of assessment contents. Directs the Secretary to: (1) consult with specified congressional committees in the design and implementation of such assessment;and (2) submit to the Congress an interim report by January 1, 1994, and a final report by July 1, 1994, on such assessment. Declares that such reports shall not be subject to any review outside OERI before their transmittal to the Congress, but allows the President, the Secretary, and the independent advisory panel to make additional recommendations. Requires the assessment to include a study of the distribution of Federal vocational education funds to the States, to be completed by January 1, 1994.

Revises requirements for a National Center or Centers for Research in Vocational Education. Authorizes the Secretary to award a competitive grant or grants to an institution of higher education or consortium of such institutions to establish one or two national centers in the areas of: (1) applied research and development; and (2) dissemination and training. Requires each entity selected to operate its National Center for five years. Directs the Secretary to review each National Center's research priorities after the third year. Requires that at least two-thirds of funds for such a center be available for applied research and development. Allows eligible institutions or consortia to compete for either one or both sets of activities, but gives preference to any entity demonstrating that it can effectively carry out both activities either directly or through contracting. Allows reservation of up to ten percent of Center funds for unforeseen field-initiated projects. Provides that the National Center for Research in Vocational Education in Berkeley, California, shall continue to operate through its five-year cycle ending December 31, 1992. Sets forth required activities and study reports under both the applied research and development and the dissemination and training components of the Center. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1991 through 1995 to carry out additional research activities.

Directs the Secretary to make demonstration grants for specified programs, giving priority to: (1) materials development in telecommunications; and (2) demonstration centers for the training of dislocated workers. Provides for demonstration programs for: (1) professional development; (2) Blue Ribbon Vocational Education Programs; (3) development of business and education standards; (4) educational programs for Federal correctional institutions; (5) dropout prevention; (6) model programs of regional training for skilled trades; (7) demonstration projects for the integration of vocational and academic learning; and (8) cooperative demonstration programs.

Directs the Secretary to establish a vocational educational data system within six months after enactment of this Act. Sets forth the functions and contents of such system, which is to be coordinated by the National Center for Education Statistics. Directs the Center to assess data availability and adequacy with respect to international competitiveness in vocational skills. Requires such system to use and be compatible with other data collection systems. Directs the Secretary to report biennially to the Congress on the system's preformance and strategies to improve and expand it.

Directs the Secretary to establish a Vocational Education Advisory Task Force within 90 days after enactment of this Act. Terminates the Task Force after two years. Directs the Task Force to advise the Secretary on development and implementation of an information reporting and accounting system responsive to the diverse programs supported by the Act. Directs the National Assessment of Educational Progress to collect and report information for at least a nationally scientific subsample of vocational education students, including special population students.

Directs the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee to establish a longitudinal occupational information demonstration program to monitor educational outcomes for vocational education using wage and other records. Requires such information to be collected at least annually. Requires such program to provide for an independent evaluation conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment.

Directs the General Accounting Office (GAO) to: (1) conduct a three-year study of the effect of this Act on the access to and participation in vocational education programs by disadvantaged students, students with handicaps, students of limited English proficiency and foster children; and (2) report on the study by July 1, 1995, to the appropriate congressional committees. Directs the Office of Technology Assessment to assess a sample of tests designed for students who have completed secondary school to determine their level of technical knowledge relating to broad technical fields.

Directs the Secretary to take necessary action to secure at reasonable cost certain required information by determining the methodology and frequency of information collection. Requires all States assisted under the Act to cooperate with the Secretary in implementing such information systems.

Repeals the National Council on Vocational Education.

Revises the formula for distribution of assistance for National Programs. Continues to provide, notwithstanding such distribution formula, specified amounts for the National Center(s) for Research, the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee, and the National Network for Curriculum Coordination.

Title V: General Provisions - Directs the Secretary, before publishing proposed regulations, to: (1) convene regional meetings including specified groups to comment on the content of proposed regulations; and (2) prepare draft regulations and submit them to a negotiated rulemaking process. Allows exceptions to such requirements if a regulation must be issued within a very limited time period, but requires that regional meetings be immediately convened to review the regulation before it is issued in final form.

Directs the GAO to: (1) investigate any failure by the Secretary to submit any report or research findings or issue any regulation required by this Act on time; and (2) report to specified congressional committees on such investigation and those responsible for the delay.

Provides that nothing in the Act shall be construed to be inconsistent with appropriate Federal laws guaranteeing civil rights.

Provides that the portion of any student financial assistance received under the Act that is made available for specified attendance costs shall not be considered as income or resources in determining eligibility for assistance under any other program funded in whole or part with Federal funds.

Requires Federal monitoring of compliance by recipients of assistance under the Act.

Authorizes joint funding under the Act, the Job Training Partnership Act, and the Wagner-Peyser Act under specified conditions

Requires each State, before publishing any proposed or final State rule or regulation under the Act, to establish and convene a State Committee of Practitioners to review it.

Requires identification of State-imposed requirements.

Prohibits use of funds under the Act to induce out-of-State relocation of businesses.

Requires maintenance of effort in State payment of administrative costs.

Defines "special populations" as including individuals with handicaps, disadvantaged individuals, individuals of limited English proficiency, and foster children on whose behalf State or local government payments are made.

Title VI: Miscellaneous - Part A: Correctional Education - Office of Correctional Education Act of 1990 - Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to direct the Secretary of Education to establish within the Department of Education an Office of Correctional Education.

Part B: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the General Accounting Office to study the Dual System of Vocational Education (and job apprenticeship) in the Federal Republic of Germany and to report on such study to the Congress within one year.

Repeals provisions for an advisory board on International Education Programs, under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Title VII: Effective Date - Sets forth effective dates for various provisions of this Act.