Perkins Policies & Procedures
Use of Funds at the State Level
Administration
Up to 5 percent of the state funds are set aside for administration of the State Plan. ACCS works with SDE to determine how much of the set-aside is provided to ACCS. ACCS receives a portion of this 5 percent set-aside of Perkins funds received by SDE in a formal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Administrative funds are used at ACCS for the following costs: Developing the State plan; reviewing a local plan; oversight for monitoring and evaluating program effectiveness; assuring compliance with all Federal laws; providing technical assistance; reporting of all data required and supporting and developing State data systems relevant to the provisions of the Perkins Act. There is a matching requirement under the administration allocation. The state must match, with non-federal funds and on a dollar-for-dollar basis, all Perkins funds spent on administration.
Leadership
We need to add a blurb about leadership grants
Required Use of State Leadership Funds
There are specific Mandatory leadership activities for which leadership funds under Perkins must be used. These activities include:
- Develop and implement assessment of the CTE programs funded by Perkins, including an assessment of how the needs of special populations are being met and how the CTE programs are designed to enable special populations to meet the state adjusted levels of performance and prepare the special populations for further education, training or for highskill, high-wage, or high-demand occupations.
- Develop, improve, or expand the use of technology in CTE that may include:
- Training of CTE teachers, faculty, career guidance and academic counselors, and administrators to use technology, including distance learning.
- Providing CTE students with the academic and career and technical skills (including mathematics and science knowledge that provides a strong basis for such skills) that lead to entry into technology fields, including nontraditional fields; or
- Encouraging schools to collaborate with technology industries to offer voluntary internships and mentoring programs.
- Provide professional development programs to CTE teachers, faculty, administrators, career guidance and academic counselors who are involved in integrated CTE programs;
- Provide programs that strengthen the academic and career and technical skills of CTE students participating in CTE programs;
- Prepare students for nontraditional fields in current and emerging professions, and other activities that expose students, including special populations, to high-skill, high-wage occupations;
- Support partnerships among local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, adult education providers, and as appropriate, employers, labor organizations, intermediaries, parents, and local partnerships which allow students to achieve academic state standards, and CTE skills or complete a program of study;
- Support state correctional institutions and institutions that serve individuals with disabilities;
- Prepare special populations for high skill, high wage, or high demand occupations;
- Provide technical assistance for eligible colleges; The activities listed above are the specific mandatory activities provided in the Perkins statute.
Permissible Use of State Leadership Funds
In addition to the mandatory uses listed above, there are also a number of permissive uses. NCCCS may spend its leadership funds on the activities described below:
- Improve career guidance and academic counseling and programs that will encourage NCCCS students to graduate with a diploma or a degree, and expose students to high-skill, high-wage occupations and non-traditional fields;
- Establish articulation agreements between secondary and NCCCS programs;
- Support for initiatives to facilitate the transition of subbaccalaureate career and technical education students into baccalaureate degree programs;
- Support for career and technical student organizations, especially with respect to efforts to increase the participation of students who are members of special populations;
- Support for public charter schools operating career and technical education programs;
- Support for career and technical education programs that offer experience in, and understanding of, all aspects of an industry for which students are preparing to enter;
- Support for family and consumer sciences programs;
- Support for partnership between education and business, including adjunct faculty arrangements;
- Support to improve or develop new career and technical education courses and initiatives, including career clusters, career academies, and distance education, that prepare individuals academically and technically for high skill, high wage, or high demand occupations;
- Awarding incentive grants to eligible colleges;
- Support entrepreneurship education and training;
- Coordinate secondary CTE programs for adults and school drop outs under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act;
- Providing assistance to individuals, who have participated in services and activities under this title, in continuing the individuals’ education or training or finding appropriate jobs, such as through referral to the system established under section 121 of Public Law 105– 220;
- Developing valid and reliable assessments of technical skills;
- Developing and enhancing data systems to collect and analyze data on academic and employment outcomes;
- Improve recruitment and retention of CTE teachers, faculty, administrators, and career guidance and academic counselors and transition to teaching from business and industry;
- Support CTE programs that offer experience in, and understanding of, all aspects of an industry;
Reserve Funds
Pursuant to section 112(a)(1) of the Perkins Act, a state may reserve not more than 10 percent of the 85 percent of Perkins pass through funds to make grant awards to eligible colleges to carry out the activities enumerated in section 135 (local uses of funds). NCCCS may take advantage of this optional set-aside through ACCS’s administration of the reserve funds. NCCCS may allocate the 10 percent reserve on a competitive basis by issuing Requests for Proposals and soliciting responsive bids for eligible colleges.