[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 66 (Monday, April 7, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16789-16790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-8400]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Elementary and Secondary Education Act; Implementation

AGENCY: Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed deadlines for final implementation.

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    The Deputy Under Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools proposes 
deadline dates for final implementation of requirements under the 
Unsafe School Choice Option (USCO), under section 9532 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by 
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This notice proposes deadlines by 
which each State must identify persistently dangerous schools, as well 
as offer students in those schools and students who are victims of 
violent criminal offenses while on school property the opportunity to 
transfer to a safe school.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this notice to William 
Modzeleski, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 
Room 3E314, Washington, DC 20202-6123. If you prefer to send your 
comments through the Internet, use the following address: 
[email protected]. Please specify ``USCO Comments'' in the subject line 
of your electronic message.
    If you want to comment on the information collection requirements, 
you must send your comments to the Department representative named in 
that section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Hayes, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 3E340, Washington, DC 20202-
6123. Telephone: (202) 708-9431. Or via Internet: [email protected].
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-
8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment

    We invite you to submit comments regarding this notice of proposed 
deadlines. 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 this notice. 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 this notice of proposed deadlines in Room 3E314, FB6, 
400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 
a.m. and 4 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week 
except Federal holidays.

[[Page 16790]]

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities

    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 
record for this notice of proposed deadlines. If you want to schedule 
an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Proposed Deadlines and Affected Parties

    We propose establishing two deadlines related to implementation of 
the USCO provisions: (1) The date by which each State must identify 
persistently dangerous public elementary and secondary schools; and (2) 
the date by which each State must allow students who attend a 
persistently dangerous school, and students who are victims of violent 
criminal offenses while at school or on the grounds of the school, to 
transfer to a safe school.
    We propose that each State identify those schools that meet its 
definition of a persistently dangerous school by July 1, 2003 and each 
July 1st thereafter, and that each State allow students attending a 
persistently dangerous public elementary or secondary school to 
transfer to a safe school by the start of the 2003-2004 school year and 
by the start of every school year thereafter. We propose that, by the 
start of the 2003-2004 school year, each State must have in place its 
policy to allow students who are victims of violent criminal offenses 
while in or on the grounds of a school they attend to transfer to a 
safe public school. We recognize that the start of the school year will 
vary from local educational agency (LEA) to LEA. The opportunity to 
transfer provided by USCO must be offered to affected students by the 
start of the school year in their LEA. This policy would remain in 
place for future years. Changes, consistent with statutory 
requirements, may be made as needed by the State.

Background

    Title IX, section 9532 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act 2001 establishes 
the USCO requirements. Accordingly, each State receiving ESEA funds 
must establish and implement a statewide USCO policy. This policy must 
provide to a student attending a persistently dangerous public 
elementary or secondary school the opportunity to transfer to a safe 
public elementary school or secondary school (which may be a public 
charter school) within the LEA in which the student is currently 
enrolled. This policy must provide the same transfer opportunity to a 
student who becomes the victim of a violent criminal offense while in 
or on the grounds of that student's public elementary or secondary 
school.
    Each State must establish a policy to address both USCO provisions 
after consultation with a representative sample of LEAs.
    Section 9532 requires that, as a condition of receiving ESEA funds, 
each State certify to the Secretary that it is in compliance with the 
USCO requirements. Each State has already provided the required 
certification in its application for ESEA funding available on July 1, 
2002. However, we recognized that not all States were able to meet all 
of the requirements of the USCO by that date. Thus, we permitted each 
State to ``qualify'' its respective certification, pending completion 
of the activities necessary to comply with the USCO provisions, and to 
report quarterly on its progress toward full compliance. We also issued 
draft non-regulatory guidance in July 2002 that outlined the 
implementation steps that would constitute full compliance with the 
USCO provisions.
    We propose these deadlines to ensure that students who attend 
persistently dangerous schools or who are the victims of violent 
criminal offenses while in school or on school grounds are offered the 
opportunity to transfer to a safe public school as quickly as possible. 
Such transfers will help ensure the opportunity for students to learn 
in a safe environment.
    We believe that the proposed deadlines appropriately balance the 
amount of time needed by each State to implement these provisions with 
the compelling interest of having students attend a safe school.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    Although the Department of Education is not collecting data, the 
statute does contain information collection requirements. As required 
by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)), the 
Department of Education submitted a copy of the information collection 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review and 
approval.
    We estimate annual recordkeeping burden for this collection of 
information to average 20 hours for each of 56 respondents, including 
the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, 
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing 
the collection of information. Thus, we estimate the total annual 
reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection to be 1120 
hours.
    If you want to comment on the information collection requirements, 
please send your comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, OMB, room 10235, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 
20503; Attention: Desk Officer for U.S. Department of Education.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. 
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in 
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
    You may also view this document in text or PDF at the following 
site: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSDFS/index.html.

    Note: The official version of this 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. 7912.

    Dated: April 4, 2003.
Judge Eric Andell,
Deputy Under Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
[FR Doc. 03-8400 Filed 4-4-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P