Growing up, Chris Thomas had a passion for cars.

When he entered high school, he pursued automotive technology and related fields at Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Silver Spring, where a teacher told him about the automotive program at Montgomery College. Having graduated high school this year, Thomas is planning to get his national Automotive Service Excellence certificate and enter the field.

“Without Edison, I don’t know where else I would be,” said Thomas, 19.

But in a year characterized by budget pain, Maryland schools will face federal budget cuts to career and technical education for students like Thomas. In fact, Maryland is taking the second-biggest hit in so-called Perkins grant money, by percentage, of any state in the nation, behind only New York.

In the fiscal 2011 budget, the federal government cut 11 percent of Perkins funding, or $140 million, for the 2011-12 school year. Maryland will lose $2.9 million from its previous funding level of $18.4 million. The money helps support the state’s 24 public school systems and 16 community colleges.

State officials are concerned about the cutbacks and how they will impact the state’s ability to prepare students for the labor market.

Further cuts to the Perkins grants — named for the federal 1984 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act — in President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal 2012 budget would reduce the grants nationwide by an additional $264 million, the Alexandria, Va.-based Association for Career and Technical Education reported.

In Maryland, Perkins funding typically accounts for one dollar out of every nine spent on career and technical education programs, said Kathy Oliver, the assistant state superintendent for career and college readiness at the Maryland State Department of Education.

“It’s a huge blow, and I’m somewhat perplexed why the administration, why the Congress, would take this action now when we know that one of the big issues to re-enegizing our economy is jobs,” Oliver said.

Funding for Perkins grants is based on a formula that takes into account a state’s population of 15- to 19-year-olds, 15- to 65-year-olds and per-capita income. If a state has relatively low per-capita income, for example, and a high population of 15- to 19-year-olds, they receive more money under the formula.

The latest information from the state education department shows that as of 2007, nearly 120,000 Maryland high school students were studying career and technical education, 44 percent of all high school students, with an additional 54,000 students in postsecondary career and technology education.

As of 2007, the programs were offered in about 200 comprehensive high schools and all 16 state community colleges, with most high schools offering between 18 and 27 individual vocational programs.

“Not everybody is able to go to a four-year college, afford that and go into the work force right after,” said Stephen DeWitt, senior director of public policy at the Association for Career and Technical Education, which is fighting further federal cuts to Perkins.

The grants pay for everything from professional development to teacher salaries, meaning that jobs will be cut because of the Perkins reductions, DeWitt noted.

They also pay to replace outdated or worn-out equipment, which is particularly important in a time when technology can quickly become obsolete, he added.

In addition, the grants help to set the bar for school systems and establish career education expectations for students, as well as tracking their performance as they move through their classroom work into the job market, Oliver said.

“It helps us with establishing accountability for results, because we look at students’ academic achievement, getting technical skill standards, getting technical industry certification,” she said.

aujifusa@gazette.net