As part of a study of the Vocational Education Act (VEA) (see note), equity provisions were examined and the adequacy of incentives, oversight mechanisms, and sanctions in the VEA was addressed. Three areas of equity were studied: federal civil rights laws and regulations; provision of funds in the VEA to help recipients meet their civil rights obligations to handicapped and limited-English-proficient students and to assist recipients to help disadvantaged students; and the mechanisms and processes contained in the VEA which are designed to overcome sex discrimination and sex stereotyping and lead to the elimination of sex bias. Major problems between intent of the Act and compliance as a result of vague wording and unclear rules were identified and recommendations for clarifying or changing these provisions were made. An analysis of the use of incentives in the VEA showed that the incentives included do not induce states to exceed the minimum desired behaviors; however, because of the structure of the vocational education funding establishment, no major changes were recommended. In regard to oversight mechanisms and sanctions, it was found that the structure of the basic enforcement system is sound; however, several significant problems with the language of certain sections were found and recommendations made to correct them. (KC)