SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Career 
and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. References. 
Sec. 4. Effective date. 
Sec. 5. Table of contents of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Edu-
cation Act of 2006. 
Sec. 6. Purpose. 
Sec. 7. Definitions. 
Sec. 8. Transition provisions. 
Sec. 9. Prohibitions. 
Sec. 10. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE I—CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ASSISTANCE TO 
THE STATES 
PART A—ALLOTMENT AND ALLOCATION 
Sec. 110. Reservations and State allotment. 
Sec. 111. Within State allocation. 
Sec. 112. Accountability. 
Sec. 113. National activities. 
Sec. 114. Assistance for the outlying areas. 
Sec. 115. Tribally controlled postsecondary career and technical institutions. 
Sec. 116. Occupational and employment information. 
PART B—STATE PROVISIONS 
Sec. 121. State plan. 
Sec. 122. Improvement plans. 
Sec. 123. State leadership activities. 
PART C—LOCAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 131. Local application for career and technical education programs. 
Sec. 132. Local uses of funds. 
TITLE II—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 201. Federal and State administrative provisions. 
TITLE III—AMENDMENTS TO THE WAGNER-PEYSER ACT 
Sec. 301. State responsibilities.
SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 
section or other provision of the Carl D. Perkins Career 
and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2301 
et seq.). 
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 
take effect beginning on July 1, 2017. 
SEC. 5. TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE CARL D. PERKINS CA-
REER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ACT OF 
2006. 
Section 1(b) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents 
for this Act is as follows: 
‘‘Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
‘‘Sec. 2. Purpose. 
‘‘Sec. 3. Definitions. 
‘‘Sec. 4. Transition provisions. 
‘‘Sec. 5. Privacy. 
‘‘Sec. 6. Limitation. 
‘‘Sec. 7. Special rule. 
‘‘Sec. 8. Prohibitions. 
‘‘Sec. 9. Authorization of appropriations. 
‘‘TITLE I—CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ASSISTANCE TO 
THE STATES 
‘‘PART A—ALLOTMENT AND ALLOCATION 
‘‘Sec. 111. Reservations and State allotment. 
‘‘Sec. 112. Within State allocation. 
‘‘Sec. 113. Accountability. 
‘‘Sec. 114. National activities.
‘‘Sec. 115. Assistance for the outlying areas. 
‘‘Sec. 116. Native American programs. 
‘‘Sec. 117. Tribally controlled postsecondary career and technical institutions. 
‘‘PART B—STATE PROVISIONS 
‘‘Sec. 121. State administration. 
‘‘Sec. 122. State plan. 
‘‘Sec. 123. Improvement plans. 
‘‘Sec. 124. State leadership activities. 
‘‘PART C—LOCAL PROVISIONS 
‘‘Sec. 131. Distribution of funds to secondary education programs. 
‘‘Sec. 132. Distribution of funds for postsecondary education programs. 
‘‘Sec. 133. Special rules for career and technical education. 
‘‘Sec. 134. Local application for career and technical education programs. 
‘‘Sec. 135. Local uses of funds. 
‘‘TITLE II—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
‘‘PART A—FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 
‘‘Sec. 211. Fiscal requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 212. Authority to make payments. 
‘‘Sec. 213. Construction. 
‘‘Sec. 214. Voluntary selection and participation. 
‘‘Sec. 215. Limitation for certain students. 
‘‘Sec. 216. Federal laws guaranteeing civil rights. 
‘‘Sec. 217. Participation of private school personnel and children. 
‘‘Sec. 218. Limitation on Federal regulations. 
‘‘Sec. 219. Study on programs of study aligned to high-skill, high-wage occupa-
tions. 
‘‘PART B—STATE ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 
‘‘Sec. 221. Joint funding. 
‘‘Sec. 222. Prohibition on use of funds to induce out-of-State relocation of busi-
nesses. 
‘‘Sec. 223. State administrative costs. 
‘‘Sec. 224. Student assistance and other Federal programs.’’. 
SEC. 6. PURPOSE. 
Section 2 (20 U.S.C. 2301) is amended— 
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘academic and career and 
technical skills’’ and inserting ‘‘academic knowl-
edge and technical and employability skills’’; 
and
(B) by inserting ‘‘and programs of study’’ 
after ‘‘technical education programs’’; 
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, including 
tech prep education’’; and 
(3) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘and pro-
grams of study’’ after ‘‘technical education pro-
grams’’. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 3 (20 U.S.C. 2302) is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraphs (16), (23), (24), 
(25), (26), and (32); 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (8), (9), (10), 
(11), (12), (13), (14), (15), (17), (18), (19), (20), 
(21), (22), (27), (28), (29), (30), (31), (33), and 
(34) as paragraphs (9), (10), (13), (16), (17), (19), 
(20), (23), (25), (27), (28), (30), (32), (35), (39), 
(40), (41), (44), (45), (46), and (47), respectively; 
(3) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘5 
different occupational fields to individuals’’ and 
inserting ‘‘three different fields, especially in in- 
demand industry sectors or occupations, that 
are available to all students’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘not 
fewer than 5 different occupational fields’’ and
inserting ‘‘not fewer than three different occu-
pational fields’’; 
(4) in paragraph (5)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 
(i) in clause (i)— 
(I) by striking ‘‘coherent and rig-
orous content aligned with challenging 
academic standards’’ and inserting 
‘‘content 
at 
the 
secondary 
level 
aligned with the challenging State 
academic standards adopted by a 
State under section 1111(b)(1) of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(1)), 
and at the postsecondary level with 
the rigorous academic content,’’; 
(II) by striking ‘‘and skills’’ and 
inserting ‘‘and skills,’’; and 
(III) by inserting ‘‘, including in 
in-demand industry sectors or occupa-
tions’’ before the semicolon at the 
end; 
(ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘, an in-
dustry-recognized credential, a certificate, 
or an associate degree’’ and inserting ‘‘or
a 
recognized 
postsecondary 
credential, 
which may include an industry-recognized 
credential’’; and 
(iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
at the end; 
(B) in subparagraph (B)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘, work-based, or 
other’’ after ‘‘competency-based’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘contributes to the’’ 
and inserting ‘‘supports the development 
of’’; 
(iii) by striking the period at the end 
and inserting a semicolon; and 
(iv) by striking ‘‘general’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, coordinate 
between secondary and postsecondary education 
programs, which may include early college pro-
grams with articulation agreements, dual or 
concurrent enrollment program opportunities, 
or programs of study; and 
‘‘(D) may include career exploration at the 
high school level or as early as the middle 
grades (as such term is defined in section 8101