[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 84 (Thursday, May 1, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23291-23293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10765]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No. 84.336A]


Office of Postsecondary Education; Teacher Quality Enhancement 
Grants Program--State Grants; Notice Inviting Applications for New 
Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2003

    Purpose of Program: To provide grants to promote improvements in 
the quality of new teachers with the ultimate goal of increasing 
student achievement in the nation's K-12 classrooms. State Grants are 
designed to improve the quality of a State's teaching force by 
supporting the implementation of comprehensive statewide reform 
activities in areas such as teacher licensing and certification, 
accountability for high-quality teacher preparation, and recruitment.
    Eligible Applicants: States, as defined in section 103(16) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

    Note: A State that received a previous grant under this program 
is not eligible for a FY 2003 grant. The following States are 
eligible: Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Montana, 
Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Republic of Marshall Islands, 
the Republic of Palau, and the United States Virgin Islands.

    Applications Available: May 1, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 16, 2003.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 18, 2003.
    Available Funds: $7,645,000.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $2,000,000-$3,000,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $2,500,000 per year.

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    Estimated Number of Awards: 3.

    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this 
notice.

    Project Period: Up to 36 months.
    Page Limit: The application narrative is where you, the applicant, 
address the selection criteria reviewers use to evaluate your 
application.
    If you are submitting an application for a State grant, you must 
limit your narrative to the equivalent of no more than 50 pages and 
your accompanying work plan to the equivalent of no more than 10 pages. 
Submit the work plan as an appendix. In addition, you must limit your 
budget narrative to the equivalent of no more than 10 pages and your 
evaluation plan to the equivalent of no more than 5 pages.
    For the application narrative, work plan, budget narrative, and 
evaluation plan, the following standards apply:
    [sbull] A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1'' 
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
    [sbull] Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) 
all text, including titles, headings, quotations, references, and 
captions.
    [sbull] Use a font that is either 12-point or larger or no smaller 
than 10 pitch (characters per inch).
    [sbull] For tables, charts, or graphs also use a font that is 
either 12-point or larger or no smaller than 10 pitch.
    Our reviewers will not read any of the specified sections of your 
application that--
    [sbull] Exceed the page limit if you apply these standards; or
    [sbull] Exceed the equivalent of the page limit if you apply other 
standards.

Application Procedures

    Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for 
transmitting applications differ from those in the Education 
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR 
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the 
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to 
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make 
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy. 
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A), the Secretary has determined 
that proposed rulemaking is not required.

Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications

    In Fiscal Year 2003, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing 
to expand its pilot project for electronic submission of applications 
to include additional formula grant programs and additional 
discretionary grant competitions. The Teacher Quality Enhancement 
Grants Program--State Grants is one of the programs included in the 
pilot project. If you are an applicant under the Teacher Quality 
Enhancement Grants Program--State Grants you may submit your 
application to us in either electronic or paper format.
    The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant 
Application System (e-Application). Users of e-Application will be 
entering data on-line while completing their applications. You may not 
e-mail a soft copy of a grant application to us. If you participate in 
this voluntary pilot project by submitting an application 
electronically, the data you enter on-line will be saved into a 
database. We request your participation in e-Application. We shall 
continue to evaluate its success and solicit suggestions for 
improvement.
    If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
    [sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
    [sbull] You will not receive any additional point value because you 
submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will we penalize 
you if you submit an application in paper format. When you enter the e-
Application system, you will find information about its hours of 
operation.
    [sbull] You must submit all documents electronically, including the 
Application for Federal Assistance (ED 424), Budget Information--Non-
Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and 
certifications.
    [sbull] After you electronically submit your application, you will 
receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will include a PR/Award 
number (an identifying number unique to your application).
    [sbull] Within three working days after submitting your electronic 
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal 
Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following 
these steps:
    (1) Print ED 424 from the e-Application system.
    (2) The State's Authorizing Representative must sign this form.
    (3) Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the 
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
    (4) Fax the signed ED 424 to the Application Control Center at 
(202) 260-1349.
    [sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on all 
other forms at a later date.
    [sbull] Closing Date Extension in Case of System Unavailability: If 
you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot for the Teacher 
Quality Enhancement Grants Program's State Grants Program and you are 
prevented from submitting your application on the closing date because 
the e-Application system is unavailable, we will grant you an extension 
of one business day in order to transmit your application 
electronically, by mail, or by hand delivery. For us to grant this 
extension--
    (1) You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have 
initiated an e-Application for this competition; and
    (2)(a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes 
or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC 
time, on the deadline date; or
    (b) The e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of 
time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time 
between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the deadline date.
    The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of 
unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this 
extension you must contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere in 
this notice under For Further Information Contact or (2) the e-GRANTS 
help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
    You may access the electronic grant application for the Teacher 
Quality Enhancement Grants Program's State Grant Program at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
    We have included additional information about the e-Application 
pilot project (see Parity Guidelines between Paper and Electronic 
Applications) in the application package.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 
82, 85, 86, 97, 98 and 99. (b) The regulations for this program in 34 
CFR part 611.
    Priority: This competition focuses on projects designed to meet a 
priority in the regulations for this program (34 CFR 611.13).
    The Secretary provides a competitive preference on the basis of how 
well the State's proposed activities in any one or more of the 
following statutory priorities are likely to yield successful and 
sustained results:
    (a) Initiatives to reform State teacher licensure and certification 
requirements so that current and future teachers possess strong 
teaching skills and academic content knowledge in the subject areas 
they will be certified or licensed to teach.
    (b) Innovative reforms to hold higher education institutions with 
teacher preparation programs accountable for preparing teachers who are 
highly competent in the academic content areas and have strong teaching 
skills.

[[Page 23293]]

    (c) Innovative efforts to reduce the shortage (including the high 
turnover) of highly competent teachers in high-poverty urban and rural 
areas.
    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i) we award up to an additional 10 points 
to an application, depending on how well the application meets one or 
more of these priorities.
    Special Funding Considerations: The program regulations (34 CFR 
part 611.3(c)) provide that when two or more applicants are ranked 
equally for the last available award, the Secretary selects the 
applicant whose activities will focus (or have most impact) on local 
educational agencies and schools located in one (or more) of the 
Nation's Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities.
    For Applications and Further Information Contact: Luretha Kelley, 
Teacher Quality Program, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. 
Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW., Room 7096, Washington, DC 
20006-8525. Telephone: (202) 502-7878, FAX: (202) 502-7864 or via 
Internet: [email protected].
    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 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed under For 
Applications and Further Information Contact. However, the Department 
is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the standard forms 
included in the application package.

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 the 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.

    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. 1021 et seq.

    Dated: April 28, 2003.
Sally L. Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 03-10765 Filed 4-30-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4001-01-P