door policy on admissions to vocational education programs at all levels of instruction. They will continue this encouragement. Administrative Structure.-The State Board of Vocational and Technical Education has taken the position that they do not recommend an administrative structural change for Vocational Education and continues that stand. Post-Secondary Program Expansion.-The State Board continues to encourage the expansion and improvement of post-secondary vocational education programs by funding on-going and new programs. It is a paramount importance that without greatly expanded state funds for vocational education at all levels of instruction, the State Board will not be able to expand post-secondary vocational education at a much more rapid pace than it has in the past few years. Career Education.-The State Board endorses the concept of Career Education and recognizes the important role played by vocational education in this concept. The Board would recommend that the State Department of Public Instruction develop the concept and implement programs when economically and programmatically feasible. North Central Accreditation.-The State Board has placed into operation a Self-Evaluation Instrument for Secondary Programs during the last year. The State Board will consider the recommendation made by the Council over the next several months. Although the State Board will continue to encourage LEA's to improve the quality of their programs by any means available to them, it does not seem to be feasible to give added reimbursement to North Central accredited schools at this time. This would be particularly true during a time of many unknown quantities relating to federal funding. Counseling. The State Board recognized this problem last year and called for the development of pilot counselor education programs which have been funded by the Board. The Board does not think it feasible during a time of extreme unknown federal funding commitment to commit themselves to an additional reimbursement for Guidance Counselors in comprehensive high schools. The Board will attempt to collect data that will give a basis for making a decision on this recommendation over the next several months. The State Board recognizes placement as the number one goal to success of a vocational program and will encourage this phase of the counseling program. Local Budgeting. The State Board Staff developed and implemented an agreement, contract and an accounting system with all of the operating area Vocational schools and programs during the past fiscal year. A local budgeting system now in operation in two or three locations in the State has been under study and development for usage as a state-wide local budgeting system. The State Board also recently funded a local planning development project to be used statewide. State Funds.-The State Board of Vocational and Technical Education has recognized the need for additional state funds for vocational education at all levels for the past several years. The Board recognizes the inequity between monies available for higher education as compared to vocational education. Increased level of funding for vocational education programs in Indiana must be realized to carry out effective programs. Indiana Public School Superintendents Association and Indiana School Boards Association.-The Board and its staff have had a good communication linkage with these two associations for considerable time and will continue these efforts to improve relationships with these organizations as well as other associations and agencies involved with vocational education. Pre-Vocational Education Funding.-The State Board has funded pilot programs at this level of instruction. The Board does not support the funding of pre-vocational education programs out of regular monies as long as the levels of funding from the Federal Government are not greatly increased. The final guidelines for the provision of pre-vocational programs have not been received by the State Board office at the time of the development of this response. 1972 Education Amendments Implementation.-Continued study will be made on this recommendation. The Board has considered some forms of implementation on the Vocational Education parts of the 1972 Amendments, but due to the recent communication from the U. S. Commissioner of Educa tion pertaining to the implementation of the various requirements of the Act, the Board's action on this recommendation will be at a greatly reduced speed. Area School Remodeling Facilities.-The State Board will continue to evaluate each proposal on its own merits keeping in mind the total area school plan for the State and the feasibility of the proposed plan for a local area. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Progress: The impact of federal funds in Indiana within the last 10 years has been remarkable-enrollments have increased 120 percent. By presenting vocational education as an integral part of the total education system, over 154,000 people took advantage of receiving occupational training in quality programs. The following recommendations are submitted for your consider ation: 1. Federal funds should be allotted prior to the beginning of the fiscal year to allow for better planning and budgeting. 2. With the emphasis being given career education today, additional funding should be seriously considered in order to properly implement this concept and philospohy. 3. Local education agencies offering vocational education programs should again be allowed to participate in the Federal excess property program. Participation in this program will enable Indiana and other States to more effectively meet the mandate of Congress outlined in the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 in maintaining, extending, and improving existing programs and developing new programs. IOWA State Director-William O. Schuermann INTRODUCTION Total enrollments in vocational-technical education programs have more than doubled during the past 10 years, increasing from 65,391 in fiscal year 1963 to 133,442 for fiscal year 1972. Projected estimates indicate continuing growth, with an anticipated enrollment in fiscal year 1977 of 202,325 or an increase of more than 300 percent above the achievements for fiscal year 1963. STATE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS Job Training Enrollments Enrollment information indicating instructional levels and arranged by occupational area, disadvantaged, handicapped, consumer and homemaking, cooperative education, and work study programs is presented in the Iowa career Education enrollment trends table. General Description of Training Programs Most of the occupational areas experienced strong growth during the period. Much of the change paralled national trends, with rapid increases in the health field and continued swift expansion in such areas as distributive education and trade industry occupations. Office occupations had not yet begun operating as a vocational program area in 1963; but indicated extremely rapid growth shortly thereafter, due primarily to the fact that this job area encompassed data processing occupations which have experienced extremely strong growth. The total number of enrollments in technical programs has not increased, but the type of programs has shifted from short-term supplementary courses offered through university extension in 1963 to full-time postsecondary programs now offered in Iowa's area schools and community colleges, encompassing such specialized areas as electro-mechanical technology, mechanical technology, machine and tool design, educational media technician, and police science technology, to enumerate only a few of the many offerings. Agricultural education has experienced slight, but steady growth and again indicates a trend toward more technical postsecondary programs such as animal science, production management which includes training in managing feedlots and stockyards, floriculture, and agriculture resources. The growing recognition of the importance of agribusiness industries is reflected in the large number of courses providing training in a wide variety of agriculturally related services. (213) Projection methods for fiscal year 1977 resulted in total estimates by level and by program area but did not permit a specific course area-instructional level mix. Responsibility for adult preparatory and supplementary programs is primarily lodged with the 15 area vocational schools and community colleges. Thus, in many instances, data for adult and postsecondary programs are combined. This is particularly evident in such areas as disadvantaged, handicapped, and work study programs. Postsecondary Courses Dramatic changes occured within this general growth pattern, as the creation of Iowa's merged area school system by the 1965 state legislature bouyed postsecondary enrollments from 627 in fiscal year 1963 to an achievement of 15,688 in fiscal year 1972. All of the increase occurred in the 15 area schools and community colleges, as use of State university technical institutes declined rapidly as the new educational system emerged. These changes are depicted graphically in the chart "Iowa Career Education Enrollment Trends." Disadvantaged Students Identification of disadvantaged students did not begin until after the Vocational Education Act of 1963. Even in 1968, such identification was restricted primarily to an indication of special education students enrolled in vocational education programs. Earmarked funding in the 1968 amendments to the Vocational Education Act resulted in planned supportive and remedial programs designed specifically to meet the needs of disadvantaged individuals. Secondary and postsecondary institutions developed and implemented projects and programs to better identify and serve this population. Experienced staff personnel were added at the State and local levels, including special needs coordinators who worked with disadvantaged individuals, other instructors, community agencies, and area employers in order to ereate a service delivery system to meet specific individual needs. Increased emphasis is now being placed upon world of work orientation, i.e., assisting the individual in self-assessment by using comprehensive vocational evaluation centers while simultaneonsly providing exposure to various occupations through exploratory activities. Ultimately, career decisions will be made and appropriate preparatory training initiated. Handicapped Students Specific identification of handicapped students did not occur until after fiscal year 1968, although work study programs for physically handicapped and mentally retarded students had been in operation in many schools as part of the special education program. Today special needs programs, services, and activities encompass both disadvantaged and handicapped individuals. Actually, so much overlapping occurs between the two classifications that it becomes quite difficult to determine that any one person is handicapped, but not disadvantaged or vice versa. Adults The adult population in Iowa is served basically by the merged area community colleges. Each postsecondary institution has an adult director and/or coordinator responsible for adult supplementary programs. The supplementary coordinators are primarily concerned with those individuals who are presently employed and in need of job retraining or upgrading. Short-term and regular preparatory programs are administered by the institution's vocational director, regardless of the student's age. Therefore, all preparatory enrollments are included in the postsecondary columns of the chart "Iowa Career Education Enrollment Trends," while the upgrading and retraining students are reflected in the adult supplementary columns. Programs using Federal manpower funds (MDTA) have existed in Iowa since the first class began on November 5, 1962. Early training projects in 1963 included such specialized courses as upholsterer, auto mechanic, licensed practical nurse, and mechanical draftsman. Courses were offered in 11 areas in the State. Simultaneously, the U.S. Naval Pre-Flight Training School at Ottumwa was acquired as a manpower training facility and became the Iowa Technical Center, where courses were offered in data processing. The facility has since expanded and has evolved into the present Indian Hills Community College, which serves 10 counties in merged area 15. As the area school system emerged, MDTA emphasis began shifting from establishing specific class-size projects to a process of individual referral of MDTA trainees to ongoing classes in the area schools. The multioccupational skill center in Des Moines has remained and is utilized as a statewide training center for individuals requiring extensive counseling and other supportive services. Skill center training is now offered on a cluster basis, with spinoff possible to several different entry jobs, e.g., automotive cluster, business occupations cluster, food service cluster, etc. Continuing emphasis is being placed on part-time upgrading training, again accomplished through individual slot-in referrals to ongoing programs. MDTA enrollments were insignificant in 1963, but had reached 2,058 by 1968 and 2,852 in 1972. The slot-ins are reflected in the enrollments indicated in the chart "Iowa Career Education Enrollment Trends." Financing (i) The State board of public instruction determines the relative priority of career education programs, services, and activities for consideration in allocating funds. Criteria used include manpower needs and job opportunities, population needs, relative ability to pay, and excess costs of programs, services, or activities. After weighting of criteria, point assignment and calculation of the State average, quartiles of spread are established with reimbursement differentiation of 5 percent per quartile. For a detailed explanation of current practice set forth in the 1973 State plan, see appendix A. Criteria for allocating funds and a formula for arriving at relative costs of programs, services, and activities have been submitted to the USOE for consideration in the proposed 1974 State plan. See appendix B for a detailed explanation of these criteria and formula. |