Case studies were conducted at the state and local level in Texas to evaluate the impact of the Carl Perkins Vocational Education Act. Changes in vocational education at the state level that could be attributed to the Carl Perkins Act (CPA) included: (1) a smaller state advisory council with a majority representing business and industry; (2) a closer working relationship with the State Job Training Coordinating Council (SJTCC) and Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs; (3) more emphasis on basic skills at the secondary level as opposed to specific job training, although the impact is difficult to separate from general school reform; (4) more emphasis on local level evaluation of programs, but less emphasis on follow-up studies; and (5) more handicapped and disadvantaged money returned to the state unspent due to the difficulties of meeting both the excess costs and matching requirements of the CPA. Changes at the local level included the following: many small schools received too little money in some categories and often returned the insufficient money unused; not being able to use program improvement funds for maintenance activities has caused many problems at the secondary level; funds allocated through the request for proposal process were not applied for by smaller schools; and schools of all sizes felt that there was too much interference with local prerogative given the requirements for spending CPA money. (CML)