[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27404-27407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-12603]
[[Page 27403]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part IV
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
34 CFR Part 611
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program; Proposed Rule
Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 96 / Wednesday, May 19, 1999 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 27404]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Part 611
RIN 1840-AC67
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education (Assistant
Secretary) proposes to develop regulations that would apply the eight
percent (8%) indirect cost limitation for the Department's educational
training grants to all States and local educational agencies (LEAs)
receiving funds under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program
for States and Partnerships authorized by sections 201-205 of the
Higher Education Act (HEA), as amended by the Higher Education
Amendments of 1998. These proposed regulations would ensure that the
limited funding available to support program activities is concentrated
on direct support for improvements in teacher licensing, certification,
preparation, and recruitment, rather than for recipient ``overhead.''
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 18, 1999.
ADDRESSEES: All comments concerning these proposed regulations should
be addressed to: Dr. Louis Venuto, Higher Education Programs, Office of
Postsecondary Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW., Portals Building, Room
6234, Washington, DC 20202-5131: Telephone: (202) 708-8847, or by FAX
to: (202) 260-9272. If you prefer to send your comments through the
Internet use the following address: [email protected].
You must include the term ``Indirect Costs'' in the subject line of
your electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Louis Venuto, Higher Education
Programs, Office of Postsecondary Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Portals Building, Room 6234, Washington, DC 20202-5131: Telephone:
(202) 708-8847; FAX (202) 260-9272. If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment
We invite you to submit comments regarding these proposed
regulations.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Order 12866 and its overall requirement of
reducing regulatory burden that might result from these proposed
regulations. Please let us know of any further opportunities we should
take to reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while
preserving the effective and efficient administration of the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about these proposed regulations at the Department of
Education, 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 6234, Portal Building,
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern
time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record
On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for these proposed regulations. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of aid, you may call (202) 205-
8113 or (202) 260-9895. If you use a TDD, you may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
General
Background: On October 8, 1998, the President signed into law the
Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-244). Title II of this
law addresses the Nation's need to ensure that new teachers enter the
classroom prepared to teach all students to high standards by
authorizing, as Title II of the Higher Education Act, Teacher Quality
Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships. The new Teacher Quality
Enhancement Grants programs provide an historic opportunity to effect
positive change in the recruitment, preparation, licensing, and on-
going support of teachers in America. The programs are designed to
increase student achievement by implementing comprehensive approaches
to improving teacher quality.
More specifically, the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program
include three new competitive grant programs:
State Grants Program: Competitive grants to States will support the
implementation of comprehensive statewide reforms to improve the
quality of a State's teaching force. By law, State activities must
include one or more of the following activities: reforming teacher
certification or licensure standards; implementing reforms to hold
institutions of higher education accountable for preparing teachers who
are highly competent in their subject areas; providing prospective
teachers with alternative pathways into teaching; implementing programs
of support for teachers during their initial periods of teaching and
establishing, expanding, or improving alternative routes to State
certification; developing effective methods of recruiting and rewarding
highly competent teachers and removing incompetent or unqualified
teachers; recruiting teachers for high-poverty urban and rural areas;
and developing ways teachers can address the problem of social
promotion.
Partnership Grants for Improving Teacher Preparation Program: The
purpose of the Partnership program is to bring teacher preparation
programs, schools of arts and sciences, and high-need school districts
and schools together (as appropriate, with other stakeholders) to
create fundamental change and improvement in traditional teacher
education programs--thereby increasing teachers' capacity to help all
students learn to high standards. Designed to support highly committed
partnerships that will accelerate the change process in teacher
education, the program will (1) strengthen the vital role of K-12
educators in the design and implementation of effective teacher
education programs; and (2) increase collaboration between departments
of arts and sciences and schools of education.
The program is designed to make an important impact on teacher
education and thereby to increase significantly the number of new
teachers emerging from programs that have been redesigned to ensure
that new teachers have the content knowledge and teaching skills to be
effective.
Teacher Recruitment Grants Program: In addition, there is a great
need, especially in high-poverty communities, to recruit and prepare
more people to become teachers. The Teacher Recruitment Grants--awarded
either to States or to partnerships among high-need LEAs, teacher
preparation institutions, and schools of arts and sciences--are
designed to reduce shortages of highly qualified teachers in high-need
school districts.
[[Page 27405]]
Local partnerships between school districts and teacher preparation
institutions have been found to be very effective at providing teachers
for communities where they are most needed. The ``grow your own''
approach is also effective for these communities because individuals
who are already members of a community are likely to remain there after
they become teachers. The recruitment grants will allow individual
communities to determine their needs for teachers and to recruit and
prepare teachers who meet those needs. States can also play an
important role in ensuring that high-need school districts are able to
recruit highly qualified teachers, and they can use the recruitment
grants to develop and implement effective mechanisms to do so.
The Department announced the initial competitions for grants under
these three programs by publishing a notice in the Federal Register on
February 8, 1999 (64 FR 6139). The Department expects to make awards
under the State and Teacher Recruitment programs by mid-July 1999, and
awards under the Partnership program by early September 1999.
Need to Regulate: More than ever before in our history, teaching is
the profession that is shaping the Nation's future--molding the skills
of our future workforce and laying the foundation for good citizenship
and full participation in community and civic life. Accordingly, what
teachers know and are able to do is critically important. Yet, we face
daunting challenges as we seek to ensure a national teaching force of
the highest quality. America's schools will need to hire 2.2 million
teachers over the next decade, more than half of whom will be first-
time teachers. As classrooms grow more challenging and diverse, these
teachers will need to be well prepared to teach all students to the
highest standards. Contemporary classrooms and social conditions
confront teachers with a range of complex challenges previously unknown
in the profession. New education goals and tougher standards, more
rigorous assessments, site-based management, greater interest in
parental involvement, the continuing importance of safety and
discipline, and expanded use of technology increase the knowledge and
skills that teaching demands.
The three new Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants programs offer an
opportunity to improve teacher quality in America by effectively
addressing these challenges. However, success will depend upon how well
we use the resources that Congress provides to make sustained and
meaningful improvements in teacher licensure, certification,
preparation, and recruitment. For fiscal year 1999, Congress
appropriated $75 million for these three component programs. If these
funds, and funds that Congress will appropriate for use in future
years, are to achieve their purposes, we need to ensure that they are
used as effectively as possible. To do so, it is necessary to place a
reasonable limitation on the amount of program funds that Title II
grant recipients may use to reimburse themselves for the ``indirect
costs'' of program activities.
Sections 75.560-75.564 and 80.22 of the Education Department
General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) incorporate and apply cost
principles developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
government-wide grant activities to projects and activities that States
and local governments undertake with funds awarded under the
Department's discretionary grants. These regulations provide that costs
of project activities may be charged to grant funds in two forms: as
direct costs and indirect costs. The direct costs of a grant are
charges that are directly allocable to grant activities. Indirect
costs, on the other hand, are charges that are incurred by so many
programs or cost objectives that it would be either impossible or
prohibitively expensive to calculate the precise amount of charges
allocable to a particular program or grant activity. Examples of
typical indirect costs are heat, electricity and other utilities,
building services and depreciation, and general administration.
Generally, the formula for determining the amount of indirect costs
that may be charged to any grant is based on application of a
negotiated indirect cost rate to the grant's direct costs. Thus, the
higher the indirect cost rate the more grant funds that will be charged
for these ``overhead'' expenses, and the fewer grant funds that remain
available for the costs of direct services. By their own terms, EDGAR
regulations in sections 75.560-75.564 and 80.22 (which incorporate
applicable OMB cost principles for determining a grant's allowable
costs) provide that an agency's or institution's indirect cost rate
depends, subject to EDGAR definitions, on the agency's or institution's
own overall cost structure.
The best data available to the Department indicate that over 20
States have indirect cost rates of over 15 percent; two States has an
indirect cost rates of 34 percent. If peer reviewers recommend these
States for award of State or Teacher Recruitment Program grants, over
15 percent or more of the funds that Congress has appropriated for
these programs may support the States' indirect costs rather than the
direct costs of activities designed to improve teacher quality. While
recognizing the legitimacy of indirect costs, the Secretary believes
that having these large amounts of funds compensate States and other
recipients for their general overhead and related expenses is
inconsistent with the purpose of the programs and the expectations that
Congress and the Nation have for their success. Therefore, given (1)
the pivotal significance of the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants
programs, (2) the national need that these programs have a maximum
impact on the quality and quantity of highly-qualified new teachers,
and (3) the fact that these programs are competitive, the Secretary has
determined that a reasonable limitation on the indirect cost rate that
States and LEAs may charge to their Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants
program funds is appropriate.
Section 75.562 of EDGAR limits the indirect cost rate that
institutions of higher education (IHEs) and nonprofit agencies may
charge for educational training grants to eight percent of modified
total direct costs. By the notice published in the Federal Register on
February 8, 1999 (64 FR 6145-6146) that will govern the initial
competition and awards under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants
programs, the Secretary extended this eight percent cap on indirect
cost rates to all grantee IHE and nonprofit agencies, regardless of
whether the Partnership or Teacher Recruitment programs for which they
receive funding are educational training grants. Section 75.562(a) of
EDGAR acknowledges that educational training grants typically have a
large proportion of their funds available for direct costs, since these
grants largely implement previously developed materials and methods,
rather than ``support activities involving research, development, and
dissemination of new educational materials and methods.'' The Secretary
believes that Teacher Recruitment grants fit the category of
educational training grants but that, depending on how they are
implemented, Partnership program grants may not. Still, the Secretary
believes that, as is the case with educational training grants, IHEs
and nonprofit agency grantees that receive Partnership program grants
will not have the need to support their activities with high indirect
cost rates.
Similarly, the Secretary believes that States and LEAs that receive
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants program funds do not need to
exercise high
[[Page 27406]]
indirect cost rates in order to fairly compensate themselves for the
activities they will conduct under the State, Partnership, or Teacher
Recruitment grant programs. Rather, given the important role that each
grant recipient has in making the maximum impact with the program funds
it receives, the Secretary believes that it is appropriate that all
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants program grant recipients have the
same cap--eight percent--on the indirect costs they may charge.
Combined with the rule published in the Federal Register on February 8,
1999, the regulation proposed in proposed Sec. 611.30 would do just
that.
This proposal strikes a reasonable balance between the need to
focus as much funding for the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants
programs as possible on direct services to improve teacher licensure,
certification, preparation, and recruitment, and the reality that, to
do so, recipients invariably must encounter some indirect costs. In
addition, because these programs are competitive, States and LEAs (as
well as IHEs and nonprofit agencies) that believe that they need
additional indirect costs to implement these needed grant activities
simply need not apply or accept grant awards. Therefore, this proposed
regulation would not impose any non-reimbursed indirect costs on
unwilling recipients.
If proposed Sec. 611.30 becomes final, it will apply to all funding
that States and LEAs receive under the three Teacher Quality
Enhancement Grants programs, both under the initial and any subsequent
program competitions. With regard to the initial competition being
conducted in the spring of 1999, the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants
program application packages made available in February 1999 advised
the public of the Department's intent to publish these proposed
regulations. The application packages also advised States that, given
the need for these programs to produce significant results, peer
reviewers might rate applications that did not limit their indirect
costs less competitively.
If these proposed regulations become final, it would in essence
establish this guidance as a program requirement.
Goals 2000: Educate America Act
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (Goals 2000) focuses the
Nation's education reform efforts on the eight National Education Goals
and provides a framework for meeting them. Goals 2000 promotes new
partnerships to strengthen schools and expands the Department's
capacities for helping communities to exchange ideas and obtain
information needed to achieve the goals.
These proposed regulations would address the National Education
Goal that the Nation's teaching force will have the content knowledge
and teaching skills needed to instruct all American students for the
next century.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that these proposed regulations would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. Entities that would be affected by these regulations are
States and State agencies and LEAs. States and State agencies are not
defined as ``small entities'' in the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Small
LEAs are small entities for purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
The final regulations would not have a significant impact on these
small entities because the regulations would not impose excessive
regulatory burden or require unnecessary Federal supervision. The
regulations would impose minimal requirements to ensure the appropriate
expenditure of funds.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
These proposed regulations have been examined under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 and have been found to contain no information
collection requirements.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
Order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
This document is intended to provide early notification of our
specific plans and actions for this program.
Assessment of Educational Impact
The Secretary particularly requests comments on whether these
proposed regulations would require transmission of information that any
other agency or authority of the United States gathers or makes
available.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may review this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or
portable document format (PDF) on the World Wide Web at either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office at (202) 512-1530 or, toll free, at 1-888-293-6498.
Note: The official version of the document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.
List of Subjects in 34 CFR Part 611
Colleges and universities, Elementary and secondary education,
Grant programs--education.
Dated: May 14, 1999.
David A. Longanecker,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.336: Teacher
Quality Enhancement Grants Program)
For reasons stated in the preamble, the Secretary proposes to amend
Chapter VI of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations by adding the
following new part 611 to read as follows:
PART 611--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS PROGRAM
Sec.
Subparts A--[Reserved]
Subpart D--What Conditions Must Be Met by a Grantee?
611.30 What is the maximum indirect cost rate for States and local
educational agencies?
Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1021 et seq., unless otherwise noted.
PART 611--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS PROGRAM
Subparts A [Reserved]
Subpart D--What Conditions Must Be Met by a Grantee?
Sec. 611.30 What is the maximum indirect cost rate for States and
local educational agencies?
Notwithstanding 34 CFR 75.560-75.562 and 34 CFR 80.22, the maximum
indirect cost rate that a State or local educational agency receiving
funding under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program may use to
charge indirect costs to these funds is the lesser of --
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(a) The rate established by the negotiated indirect cost agreement;
or
(b) Eight percent.
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.)
[FR Doc. 99-12603 Filed 5-18-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U