Carl Perkins Grant

The Carl D. Perkins Career and  Technical  Education Grant (Perkins) is a federal grant that helps assure that career and technical programs are academically rigorous and up-to-date with the needs of the business and industry. The purpose of Perkins is to provide students with the academic and technical skills needed to be successful in their postsecondary and career choices.

The federal resources are sent to the state level to be dispersed to the local parish school systems and postsecondary institutions. Our parish receives approximately $130,000-150,000 annually.

The funds that we receive are spent for instructional supplies like computers, software etc.
Equipment for the Career Tech Programs is also purchased. Professional development is also provided for our Career and Tech Teachers. Some training is also provided through our partnership with the Louisiana Technical College System.

 The current Perkin’s Law allows for more state and local flexibility but also raises expectations for students participating in the career and tech classes by holding them
to specific, valid, and reliable accounting standards. Our state has the CATE Data System that records the data of the achievement levels of all of our CT students. If certain core indicators are not met, future funding could be reduced.

In the past few years Perkins funds have been used for equipment in our Pro-start kitchens, Sports Medicine classrooms, and Early Childhood Education classrooms.
Also new computer labs have been purchased for our Business Computer Application Classes, IC3, and COE classrooms. Also our CT teachers have gone to trainings and workshops locally, statewide, and nationally for professional development. The Perkins Grant is definitely helping our Career Tech Programs keep improving each year.