Vocational Education Act of 1963

The Vocational Education Act of 1963 (VEA), Pub. L. 88-210, is a United States federal education law that substantially expanded federal support for vocational education. Enacted by the 88th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on December 18, 1963, the Act authorized new matching grants to states to improve existing vocational programs, develop new offerings, and extend occupational training opportunities for youth and adults. The law also extended the National Defense Education Act and certain federal impact-aid programs for schools serving large numbers of children from military or other federally connected families.

The Act superseded earlier categorical funding schemes rooted in the Smith–Hughes Act of 1917 and the George-Barden Act of 1946 by broadening the definition of vocational education and extending eligibility beyond traditional agriculture, home economics, and trades programs at the secondary level. It encouraged the creation of "area vocational schools" serving multiple districts, work-study programs for students needing part-time employment, and training or retraining for adults already in or entering the labor force. Contemporary observers and later historians have treated the 1963 statute as a major turning point in federal vocational education policy and one of the most influential vocational education laws of the twentieth century.

The Vocational Education Act of 1963 was amended and expanded by the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968, the Education Amendments of 1976, and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1984, among other laws. As extensively amended, Public Law 88-210 is now cited as the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 and provides the statutory basis for federal career and technical education grants authorized in chapter 44 of Title 20 of the United States Code.