This research study was designed to help illuminate if there is a relationship between the quality of career and technical education programs from centralized and decentralized-controlled systems in relation to the level of authority exerted by state governing/coordinating boards over the community college system. This study included data from the 50 states that are part of the United States of America. This study used a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent design. This study did not include randomly selected groups and was a nonequivalent control group design. The independent variables included: centralized or decentralized governance, median household income, the percent of community colleges that are rural, unemployment rate, and amount spent per full time enrolled community college student. The independent variable data that was collected came from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the United States Census Bureau, and the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The dependent variable was the mean score of Carl Perkins Act reporting data that each state is required to report to federal authorities every year. The states were divided in two separate groups, centralized or decentralized form of governance. A regression analysis was performed in order to analyze if a relationship exists between the independent and dependent variables for each group. The research indicated that the form of governance does impact Carl Perkins Act reporting scores in a decentralized form of governance in relation to median income, but overall the model is not a good predictor of overall scores. A significant difference was found in states that have a decentralized form of governance and median household income in relation to Carl Perkins Act reporting data. However, the model, as a whole, did not produce significant results in relation to the independent and dependent variables. Considerations for future research are discussed.