[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 101 (Tuesday, May 27, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28818-28821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-13181]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

[CFDA No.: 84.323A]


Special Education: State Program Improvement Grants Program 
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002

    Purpose of Program: The purpose of this program, authorized under 
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 
1997, is to assist State educational agencies and their partners 
referred to in section 652(b) of IDEA with reforming and improving 
their systems for providing educational, early intervention, and 
transitional services, including their systems for professional 
development, technical assistance, and dissemination of knowledge about 
best practices, to improve results for children with disabilities.
    Eligible Applicants: A State educational agency of one of the 50 
States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or 
an outlying area (United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) that is not a 
current grantee.
    Applications Available: May 27, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 11, 2003.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 12, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: $11 million.
    Estimated Range of Awards: Awards will be not less than $530,000, 
nor more than $2,199,000 in the case of the 50 States, the District of 
Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and not less than 
$84,800, in the case of an outlying area. Pursuant to subsection 655(b) 
the Secretary has increased the maximum award amount above the maximum 
award amount for the FY 2002 competition to account for inflation.

    Note: Consistent with EDGAR 34 CFR 75.104(b), we will reject any 
application that proposes a project funding level for any year that 
exceeds the stated maximum award amount for that year.

    We will set the amount of each grant after considering:
    (1) The amount of funds available for making the grants;
    (2) The relative population of the State or outlying area; and
    (3) The types of activities proposed by the State or outlying area.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,000,000.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 10.

    Note: The Department of Education is not bound by the estimated 
size and number of awards in this notice.

    Project Period: Not less than one year and not more than five 
years.
    Page Limits: Part III of each application submitted under a 
priority in this notice, the application narrative, is where an 
applicant addresses the selection criteria that are used by reviewers 
in evaluating the application. You must limit part III to the 
equivalent of no more than 100 pages, using the following standards:
    [sbull] A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'' (on one side only) with one-inch 
margins (top, bottom, and sides).
    [sbull] Double-space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) 
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings, 
footnotes, quotations, and captions, as well as all text in charts, 
tables, figures, and graphs.
    [sbull] If using a proportional computer font, use no smaller than 
a 12-point font, and an average character density no greater than 18 
characters per inch. If using a nonproportional font or a typewriter, 
do not use more than 12 characters per inch.
    The page limit does not apply to part I--the cover sheet; part II--
the budget

[[Page 28819]]

section, including the narrative budget justification; part IV, the 
assurances and certifications; or the one-page abstract, the resumes, 
the bibliography or references, or the letters of support. However, you 
must include all of the application narrative in part III.
    We will reject without consideration or evaluation any application 
if--
    [sbull] You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
    [sbull] You apply other standards and exceed the equivalent of the 
page limit.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 
82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99; and (b) the selection criteria for this 
program are drawn from EDGAR in 34 CFR 75.210.

    Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions of 
higher education only.

Description of Program

    The statutory authorization, purpose of this program and the 
application requirements that apply to this competition are set out in 
sections 651-655 of the IDEA.

General Requirements

    (a) Projects funded under this notice must make positive efforts to 
employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with 
disabilities in project activities (see section 606 of IDEA);
    (b) Applicants and grant recipients funded under this notice must 
involve individuals with disabilities or parents of individuals with 
disabilities in planning, implementing, and evaluating the projects 
(see section 661(f)(1)(A) of IDEA); and
    (c) Projects funded under these priorities must budget for a two-
day Project Directors' meeting in Washington, DC during each year of 
the project.
    Absolute Priority: Under section 653 and 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), we 
will give an absolute preference to applications that meet the 
following priority. We will fund under this competition only those 
applications that meet this absolute priority.
    This priority supports projects that assist State educational 
agencies and their partners in reforming and improving their systems 
for providing educational, early intervention, and transitional 
services, including their systems for professional development, 
technical assistance, and dissemination of knowledge about best 
practices, to improve results for children with disabilities.
    State Improvement Plan. Applicants must submit a State improvement 
plan that--
    (a) Is integrated, to the maximum extent possible, with State plans 
under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, if appropriate;
    (b) Identifies those critical aspects of early intervention, 
general education, and special education programs (including 
professional development, based on an assessment of State and local 
needs) that must be improved to enable children with disabilities to 
meet the goals established by the State under section 612(a)(16) of 
IDEA. Specifically, applicants must include:
    (1) An analysis of all information, reasonably available to the 
State educational agency, on the performance of children with 
disabilities in the State, including--
    (i) Their performance on State assessments and other performance 
indicators established for all children, including drop-out rates and 
graduation rates;
    (ii) Their participation in postsecondary education and employment; 
and
    (iii) How their performance on the assessments and indicators 
compares to that of non-disabled children;
    (2) An analysis of State and local needs for professional 
development for personnel to serve children with disabilities that 
includes, at a minimum:
    (i) The number of personnel providing special education and related 
services; and
    (ii) Relevant information on current and anticipated personnel 
vacancies and shortages (including the number of individuals described 
in paragraph (b)(2)(i) with temporary certification), and on the extent 
of certification or retraining necessary to eliminate those shortages, 
that is based, to the maximum extent possible, on existing assessments 
of personnel needs;
    (3) An analysis of the major findings of the Secretary's most 
recent reviews of State compliance, as they relate to improving results 
for children with disabilities; and
    (4) An analysis of other information, reasonably available to the 
State, on the effectiveness of the State's systems of early 
intervention, special education, and general education in meeting the 
needs of children with disabilities;
    (c) Describes a partnership agreement that--
    (1) Specifies--
    (i) The nature and extent of the partnership among the State 
educational agency, local educational agencies, and other State 
agencies involved in, or concerned with, the education of children with 
disabilities, and the respective roles of each member of the 
partnership; and
    (ii) How those agencies will work in partnership with other persons 
and organizations involved in, and concerned with, the education of 
children with disabilities, including the respective roles of each of 
these persons and organizations; and
    (2) Is in effect for the period of the grant;
    (d) Describes how grant funds will be used in undertaking the 
systemic-change activities, and the amount and nature of funds from any 
other sources, including funds under part B of the Act retained for use 
at the State level under sections 611(f) and 619(d) of the Act, that 
will be committed to the systemic-change activities;
    (e) Describes the strategies the State will use to address the 
needs identified under paragraph (b), including how it will--
    (1) Change State policies and procedures to address systemic 
barriers to improving results for children with disabilities;
    (2) Hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for 
educational progress of children with disabilities;
    (3) Provide technical assistance to local educational agencies and 
schools to improve results for children with disabilities;
    (4) Address the identified needs for in-service and pre-service 
preparation to ensure that all personnel who work with children with 
disabilities (including both professional and paraprofessional 
personnel who provide special education, general education, related 
services, or early intervention services) have the skills and knowledge 
necessary to meet the needs of children with disabilities, including a 
description of how it will--
    (i) Prepare general and special education personnel with the 
content knowledge and collaborative skills needed to meet the needs of 
children with disabilities, including how the State will work with 
other States on common certification criteria;
    (ii) Prepare professionals and paraprofessionals in the area of 
early intervention with the content knowledge and collaborative skills 
needed to meet the needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities;
    (iii) Work with institutions of higher education and other entities 
that (on both a pre-service and an in-service basis) prepare personnel 
who work with children with disabilities to ensure that those 
institutions and entities develop

[[Page 28820]]

the capacity to support quality professional development programs that 
meet State and local needs;
    (iv) Work to develop collaborative agreements with other States for 
the joint support and development of programs to prepare personnel for 
which there is not sufficient demand within a single State to justify 
support or development of a program of preparation;
    (v) Work in collaboration with other States, particularly 
neighboring States, to address the lack of uniformity and reciprocity 
in the credentialing of teachers and other personnel;
    (vi) Enhance the ability of teachers and others to use strategies, 
like behavioral interventions, to address the conduct of children with 
disabilities that impedes the learning of children with disabilities 
and others;
    (vii) Acquire and disseminate, to teachers, administrators, school 
board members, and related services personnel, significant knowledge 
derived from educational research and other sources, and how the State, 
if appropriate, will adopt promising practices, materials, and 
technology;
    (viii) Recruit, prepare, and retain qualified personnel, including 
personnel with disabilities and personnel from groups that are 
underrepresented in the fields of regular education, special education, 
and related services;
    (ix) Integrate its plan, to the maximum extent possible, with other 
professional development plans and activities, including plans and 
activities developed and carried out under other Federal and State laws 
that address personnel recruitment and training; and
    (x) Provide for the joint training of parents and special 
education, related services, and general education personnel;
    (5) Address systemic problems identified in Federal compliance 
reviews, including shortages of qualified personnel;
    (6) Disseminate results of the local capacity-building and 
improvement projects funded under section 611(f)(4) of the Act;
    (7) Address improving results for children with disabilities in the 
geographic areas of greatest need;
    (8) Assess, on a regular basis, the extent to which the strategies 
implemented under this subpart have been effective; and
    (9) Coordinate its improvement strategies with public and private 
sector resources.
    Required partners. Applicants must:
    (a) Establish a partnership with local educational agencies and 
other State agencies involved in, or concerned with, the education of 
children with disabilities; and
    (b) Work in partnership with other persons and organizations 
involved in, and concerned with, the education of children with 
disabilities, including--
    (1) The Governor;
    (2) Parents of children with disabilities;
    (3) Parents of nondisabled children;
    (4) Individuals with disabilities;
    (5) Organizations representing individuals with disabilities and 
their parents, such as the parent training and information centers;
    (6) Community-based and other nonprofit organizations involved in 
the education and employment of individuals with disabilities;
    (7) The lead State agency for part C of the Act;
    (8) General and special education teachers, and early intervention 
personnel;
    (9) The State advisory panel established under part B of the Act;
    (10) The State interagency coordinating council established under 
part C of the Act; and
    (11) Institutions of higher education within the State.
    Optional partners. A partnership established by applicants may also 
include--
    (a) Individuals knowledgeable about vocational education;
    (b) The State agency for higher education;
    (c) The State vocational rehabilitation agency;
    (d) Public agencies with jurisdiction in the areas of health, 
mental health, social services, and juvenile justice; and
    (e) Other individuals.
    Reporting procedures. Each State educational agency that receives a 
grant must submit performance reports to the Secretary pursuant to a 
schedule to be determined by the Secretary, but not more frequently 
than annually. The reports must describe the progress of the State in 
meeting the performance goals established under section 612(a)(16) of 
the Act, analyze the effectiveness of the State's strategies in meeting 
those goals, and identify any changes in the strategies needed to 
improve its performance. Grantees must also provide information 
required under EDGAR at 34 CFR 80.40.
    Use of funds. Each State educational agency that receives a State 
Improvement Grant under this program--
    (a) May use grant funds to carry out any activities that are 
described in the State's application and that are consistent with the 
purpose of this program;
    (b) Shall, consistent with its partnership agreement established 
under the grant, award contracts or subgrants to local educational 
agencies, institutions of higher education, and parent training and 
information centers, as appropriate, to carry out its State improvement 
plan; and
    (c) May award contracts and subgrants to other public and private 
entities, including the lead agency under part C of the Act, to carry 
out that plan;
    (d)(1) Shall use not less than 75 percent of the funds it receives 
under the grant for any fiscal year--
    (i) To ensure that there are sufficient regular education, special 
education, and related services personnel who have the skills and 
knowledge necessary to meet the needs of children with disabilities and 
developmental goals of young children; or
    (ii) To work with other States on common certification criteria; or
    (2) Shall use not less than 50 percent of those funds for these 
purposes, if the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction 
that it has the personnel described in paragraph (d)(1).
    Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: It is generally our practice to 
offer interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed 
priorities. However, section 661(e)(2) of IDEA makes the public comment 
requirements in the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) 
inapplicable to the priority in this notice.
    For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), 
P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, Maryland 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-
877-4ED-Pubs (1-877-433-7827). FAX: 301-470-1244. If you use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) you may call (toll free): 
1-877-576-7734.
    You may also contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html, or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: 
[email protected].
    If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify 
this competition as follows: CFDA 84.323A.

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.


[[Page 28821]]



Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications

    In FY 2003, the U.S. Department of Education is continuing to 
expand its pilot project of electronic submission of applications to 
include additional formula grant programs and additional discretionary 
grant competitions. The Special Education--State Program Improvement 
Grants Program--CFDA No. 84.323A is one of the programs included in the 
pilot project. If you are an applicant under this program, 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) portion of the Grant Administration 
and Payment System (GAPS). 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 may 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 institution'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 Special 
Education--State Program Improvement 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 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 p.m. 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 Special 
Education--State Program Improvement Grants 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Grants and Contracts Services 
Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 
3317, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: (202) 
205-8207.
    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 Grants and Contracts Services Team under 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. However, the Department is not able to 
reproduce in an alternative format the standard forms included in the 
application package.

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 provides early notification of our specific plans and 
actions for this program.

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 the previous 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/nara/index.html.


    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1405, 1461, 1472, 1474, and 1487.

    Dated: May 20, 2003.
Loretta Petty Chittum,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services.
[FR Doc. 03-13181 Filed 5-23-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P