THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO EXAMINE THE ECONOMIC COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOLS PRIOR TO THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ACT OF 1963 AND THE EFFECTS OF THIS COMMITMENT IN TERMS OF PROGRAM OFFERINGS AND STUDENTS SERVED. DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM 444 OF THE 453 MINNESOTA SCHOOL DISTRICTS. IN ADDITION, SENIORS ENROLLED IN VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION IN A STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF 31 HIGH SCHOOLS WERE STUDIED WITH RESPECT TO ACHIEVEMENT AND APTITUDE. ADJUSTED ASSESSED VALUATION PER PUPIL IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS RANGED FROM $1,868 TO $22,341. WEALTHIER DISTRICTS OFFERED RELATIVELY MORE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. HOWEVER, SCHOOL DISTRICT WEALTH WAS INDEPENDENT OF SCHOOL SIZE, AND SMALLER DISTRICTS OFFERED RELATIVELY MORE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE OFFERINGS WERE POSITIVELY RELATED TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ENROLLMENT RATIO. SENIOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION STUDENTS HAD LOWER APTITUDE SCORES BUT CLOSE TO AVERAGE ACHIEVEMENT WHEN COMPARED WITH ALL MINNESOTA SENIORS. APTITUDE AND ACHIEVEMENT WERE INDEPENDENT OF ECONOMIC AND ENROLLMENT VARIABLES. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT ECONOMIC AND STUDENT VARIABLES MIGHT OFFER AN APPROACH TO EVALUATING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND THAT STUDY SHOULD BE GIVEN TO FEDERAL FUND ALLOCATION TO LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ON AN EQUALIZATION BASIS. THIS PH.D. THESIS, SUBMITTED TO UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, IS AVAILABLE AS 66-12229 FOR $3.00 ON MICROFILM AND FOR $6.00 AS XEROXED COPY FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, INC., 300 NORTH ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48106. (JM)