Table 3 shows the amounts allotted to the various States and other areas for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1938, under these four acts. In this study the word "State" is used both as a general and as a specific term. In its usage as a general term it may include the 48 States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, or the central governments of these areas. In connection with specific information, especially statistical information, the term "State" applies to one of the 48 States. The term "Territory" applies to Alaska or Hawaii; the term "outlying areas" to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; and the term "other areas" to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. TABLE 3.-Allotments to States and other areas of appropriations under the four vocational acts in effect in the year ended June 30, 19381 [All figures in thousands of dollars] 1 TABLE 3.-Allotments to States and other areas of appropriations under the four vocational acts in effect in the year ended June 30, 1938 1 Continued Allotments shown are on the basis of population in 1930. Data were obtained from U. S. Office of Education, Vocational Education Bulletin No. 1, Statement of Policies for the Administration of Vocationai Education, Revised February 1937 (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1937), Table 3, p. 97, and U. S. Office of Education, Table of Allotments to States and Territories under the George-Deen Act for the Further Development of Vocational Education for the Fiscal Year 1937-38, July 19, 1937 (multilithed). This table, which supersedes Table 4, p. 98, in the Statement of Policies, reduces the total allotments on the basis of population groups in the various fields by amounts sufficient to provide for the deficiency in the appropriation for minimum allotments to the States. These totals have not been adjusted for differences due to rounding to thousands. 3 Not more than 20 percent of these allotments may be used in the field of home economics. 4 The special act for Puerto Rico authorizes appropriations for trades and industries and for home economics separately. See Statement of Policies... 1937, Table 3, footnote 8. CHAPTER III FEDERAL ORGANIZATION AND The necessity for organization and administration of the program of vocational education was clearly recognized in the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917. The Act provided a Federal agency through which the enterprise could be administered, it took cognizance of the desirability of coordinating various interests involved in the program, and it provided for organization and administration in the States in their cooperative relationships to the undertaking. This chapter is concerned with the arrangements for Federal administration of vocational education. The Federal Board for Vocational Education The Smith-Hughes Act created a Federal Board Vocational Education, and assigned to this agency the final responsibility for the administration of the program. The Board was composed of 7 members; 4 were ex officio, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, and the United States Commissioner of Education; 3 were appointive, 1 representing agriculture, 1 representing industry, and 1 representing labor. The Act specified that the 3 appointive members were to be "appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." These members of the Board devoted their full time to the work and, with the Commissioner of Education, served as a standing committee to deal with matters assigned by the Board at its regular meetings. The annual salary of each appointive member was originally set at $5,000 by the Smith-Hughes Act. Successive increases in the amount, through changes in the classification of the position, raised the salary first to $6,000 in 1924, then to $6,500 in 1925, to $7,000 in 1928, and finally to $8,000 in 1930. By the provisions of an act passed in 19201 the Federal Board for Vocational Education was placed in charge of the program of vocational rehabilitation for persons disabled in industry or otherwise. The problems of vocational rehabilitation of the physically disabled are dealt with in a separate study in this series.2 As an economy measure during the financial depression, Congress passed an act in 1933 authorizing the President to group, coordinate, and consolidate executive and administrative agencies of the Government in order to reduce expenditures and increase efficiency. Acting under the provisions of this legislation, President Roosevelt on June 10, 1933, issued an Executive order, effective August 10, transferring the functions of the Federal Board for Vocational Education to the Department of the Interior. The order stipulated that the Board should continue to serve in an advisory capacity, but without compensation; no definite duties were specified for it. On October 10, 1933, the Secretary of the Interior assigned the functions of the Board to the United States Commissioner of Education, and ordered the necessary personnel of the Federal Board for Vocational Education to be assigned to the Office of Education. Since the transfer of authority to the Office of Education in 1933, the Federal Board for Vocational Education has not been particularly active. An interval of more than two years elapsed between the time of the Executive order and the first meeting of the reconstituted Board in November 1935. This period of inactivity is explained in part by a change in the incumbent of the office of Commissioner of Education and in part by the fact that it was necessary to select and have confirmed by the Senate 3 new appointive members. Thus, although the Executive order made no change in the membership of the Board, 4 of its 7 members were new at the time of its reconstitution in November 1935. The Federal Board has met only infrequently since the 1 41 Stat. L. 735-8 (1920). Lloyd E. Blauch, Vocational Rehabilitation of the Physically Disabled. 347 Stat. L. 1517-20 (1933). 4 No. 6166. transfer of its authority to the Office of Education. Only one meeting was held in 1935, one in 1936, and two in 1937. During the four meetings of the Federal Board for Vocational Education in 1935, 1936, and 1937, there has been a conspicuous lack of continuity in the attendance. The members-particularly those who are on the Board in an ex officio capacity-often send representatives instead of attending themselves. Although there are only 7 regular members, 13 different persons acted in the capacity of members during the course of the four meetings held in 1935, 1936, and 1937. Only 2 of these 13 persons have attended all four of the meetings; 2 others have been present for three meetings; 2 others have been present for only two meetings, and the other 7 have been present for only one meeting. Usually a rather large number of staff members from the Vocational Division of the Office of Education attend the meetings of the Federal Board; the average for the four meetings has been 7 from this group. The constitution of the Federal Board for Vocational Education is now anomalous in certain respects. For example, the Commissioner of Education is a voting member of the group which has apparently no other function than to advise him in his administration of the program. Also it is unusual to have a board consisting in part of Cabinet members serve as an advisory agency for a bureau chief. Although the Executive order of 1933 indicated that the Federal Board for Vocational Education was thenceforth to serve in an advisory capacity, in practice the Board's own deliberations indicate considerable confusion regarding its actual functions. The Board once appointed a subcommittee to attempt to define its own functions, but this subcommittee did not make a report. On the basis of evidence obtained from a careful review of its activities, the Federal Board for Vocational Education as at present constituted does not appear to be rendering valuable advisory service to any great extent. There is, however, obvious need for a source or sources from which the officials in charge of the program can obtain competent ad |