Through an online petition, supporters of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act hope to put pressure on officials to increase funding for career and tech programs for the next fiscal year.

Recognizing that some students might be drawn to careers in fields such as information technology and culinary arts, which fall outside the scope of the traditional four-year institution, the Perkins Act, named after a former U.S. congressman, was created to provide support for career and technical education in high schools and community colleges.

But, despite an increase in interested students, federal funding for the act is not what it should be, the online petition states.

And in fact, compared to other education-related federal programs such as Title 1/No Child Left Behind (funded at $12.8 billion) and the Individuals with Disability and Education Act (funded at $11.8 billion), funding for Perkins (a little over $1.3 billion) is small. The figures are from the educational reform group Achieve Inc.’s policy brief on the Perkins Act of 2006. The act provides the only federal money dedicated to career and technical education.

The Association for Career and Technology Education teamed up with Los Angeles-based entertainment company Participant Media for the petition effort. The groups were brought together by the documentary “Pressure Cooker,” which followed three Philadelphia seniors vying for lucrative scholarships to top culinary schools, according to ACTE’s Web site.

Go here to sign the petition!