[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 238 (Friday, December 11, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68438-68439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32940]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Department of Education.

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SUMMARY: The Leader, Information Management Group, Office of the Chief 
Financial and Chief Information Officer invites comments on the 
submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
January 11, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Danny Werfel, Desk 
Officer, Department of Education, Office of Management and Budget, 725 
17th Street, N.W., Room 10235, New Executive Office Building, 
Washington, D.C. 20503 or should be electronically mailed to the 
internet address W[email protected].
    The Department of Education wants very much to make the final 
application packages for these programs available to the public as soon 
as possible. Therefore, it would appreciate receiving directly from the 
public a copy of any comments addressed to the Office of Management and 
Budget. Any copy of these written comments should be addressed to 
Patrick J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, 
S.W., Room 5624, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, D.C. 20202-
4651 and Louis J. Venuto, Higher Education Programs, Office of 
Postsecondary Education, 1280 Maryland Ave. S.W., Cy-80, Portals 
Building, Washington, D.C. 20202-5329. A copy of comments also may be 
electronically mailed to the internet address Pat__S[email protected] and 
Louis__V[email protected], or faxed to Patrick J. Sherrill at 202-708-9346 
and Louis J. Venuto at 202-708-9046. In addition, the Department of 
Education and the Office of Management and Budget will carefully review 
all written comments received within 30 days of publication of this 
notice. However, as a courtesy to those working to prepare the final 
application packages for these programs, the Department respectfully 
requests receipt of written comment as early as possible, preferably on 
or before December 28, 1998.
    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection requests 
should be addressed to: Patrick J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 
600 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 5624, Regional Office Building 3, 
Washington, D.C. 20202-4651, or should be electronically mailed to the 
internet address, Pat__S[email protected] or faxed to (202) 708-9346.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick J. Sherrill (202) 708-8196. 
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

[[Page 68439]]

    The Department anticipates that application packages for the State 
Grants Program, Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program, and 
the Teacher Recruitment Program will be available in late January of 
1999. It is proposing that the Department receive all applications 
under each of these programs by April 16, 1999, so that grant awards 
may be made by mid to late July. However, because of the particular 
complexity of the Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program, the 
Department is considering use of a pre-application procedure for this 
program. Under this procedure, all applicants first would submit 
synopses of their proposals. Reviewers would assess the quality of 
these synopses, and invite applicants whose synopses are found to be of 
highest quality to submit full applications. Grant awards issues under 
the Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program might not be 
issued until early September, 1999. By law, the Department must award 
these grants no later than September 30, 1999.
    The Department is considering this option out of concern that 
partnerships choosing to apply for grants under this program (1) may 
need a significant period of time to plan their working relationships 
and activities, and (2) should only need to spend the time and 
resources preparing the full program application if their proposals are 
deemed to be of sufficiently high quality. In addition, a pre-
application process might enable peer reviewers to better focus their 
attention on those applications that most warrant it.
    The Department specifically requests written comment from potential 
applicants on (1) whether the Department should adopt this proposal for 
a pre-application procedure even though doing so will delay grant 
awards and (2), if so, how the Department should address key issues 
such as: the information the pre-applications should contain; the 
criteria reviewers should use to select those applicants who they would 
recommend be invited to submit full applications, the length of the 
pre-applications; and the length of time that applicants will need to 
prepare pre-applications and, if requested to do so, the final program 
applications. In considering these issues, the public may find it 
useful to review the proposed selection criteria for the Partnership 
Grants for Teacher Education Program that are contained in the 
program's application package. In addition, the public should be aware 
that if a pre-application procedure is used, the Department estimates 
it may need over three and one half months to process, peer-review, and 
select applicants for both phases of the application process.
    Written comments on these and other matters should be sent as early 
as possible to the addresses identified at the beginning of this 
notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires that the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) provide interested Federal agencies and the public an 
early opportunity to comment on information collection requests. OMB 
may amend or waive the requirement for public consultation to the 
extent that public participation in the approval process would defeat 
the purpose of the information collection, violate State or Federal 
law, or substantially interfere with any agency's ability to perform 
its statutory obligations. The Leader, Information Management Group, 
Office of the Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer, publishes 
that notice containing proposed information collection requests prior 
to submission of these requests to OMB. Each proposed information 
collection, grouped by office, contains the following: (1) Type of 
review requested, e.g., new, revision, extension, existing or 
reinstatement; (2) Title; (3) Summary of the collection; (4) 
Description of the need for, and proposed use of, the information; (5) 
Respondents and frequency of collection; and (6) Reporting and/or 
Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites public comment at the address 
specified above. Copies of the requests are available from Louis Venuto 
at the address specified above.

    Dated: December 7, 1998.
Kent H. Hannaman,
Leader, Information Management Group, Office of the Chief Financial and 
Chief Information Officer.

Office of Postsecondary Education

    Type of Review: New.
    Title: Applications under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Affected Public: State, Local or Tribal Gov't, SEAs or LEAs.
    Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
      Responses: 100
      Burden Hours: 4,000
    Abstract: This application package is essential for Governors, 
State and Local agencies, and institutions of higher education to apply 
for new awards under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants fiscal year 
1999 competition.
    This information collection is being submitted under the 
Streamlined Clearance Process for Discretionary Grant Information 
Collections (1890-0001). Therefore, this 30-day public comment period 
notice will be the only public comment notice published for this 
information collection.

[FR Doc. 98-32940 Filed 12-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P