In preparation for 1989 reauthorization hearings, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined how well the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984 is being implemented. The GAO reviewed the vocational education activities in six socioeconomically diverse states, visiting 20 vocational education institutions and observing 70 local projects in those states. The agency also conducted a telephone survey of vocational education directors in all states and the District of Columbia. It was found that vocational education programs and services consistent with the Perkins Act objectives were provided in the localities studied. However, vocational education students in economically depressed areas may be less likely to receive Perkins funding for improved or modernized program activities than students outside such areas. All six states visited allocated more than half of their basic state grants to economically depressed areas, as the act requires. But some states designated relatively wealthy areas as "economically depressed" and gave them greater per capita funding than they gave some poorer communities. Further, since the disadvantaged population formula includes students who are academically disadvantaged but not poor, some relatively wealthy school districts can receive more money per low-income student than districts with high concentrations of low-income students. Finally, the study found that although the law requires a national vocational education data system, the Department of Education has not yet developed it. (Author/KC)