The White House's FY 2005 budget request released February 2nd includes severe cuts to career and technical education (CTE) programs that, if enacted, would prove devastating to education and training programs in American high schools and postsecondary institutions. In the $2.4 trillion federal budget request for FY 2005 (school year 2005-2006), the Bush Administration has, once again, requested deep cuts to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. The Administration is requesting an approximate 25% cut to funds for career and technical education, and is again requesting to eliminate the Perkins program and replace it with a $1 billion block granted program titled the Secondary and Technical Education State Grants program. The budget further seeks to eliminate all programs funded under the Perkins Act, including Tech Prep, the Tech Prep Demonstration project, Occupational and Employment Information (Section 118), and national programs. These cuts mean real dollars lost for CTE programs in schools and postsecondary programs in communities across the country, but the impact is more than dollars and cents. It means hard choices for administrators and teachers, programs lost, and of greatest consequence of all, crucial skills-building and educational opportunities diminished or denied for CTE students in our nation. Cuts to Perkins could mean loss of funds for equipment, professional development, career guidance and counseling, integration of academic and technical skills, career and technical student organizations, and program improvement.