[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 129 (Monday, July 7, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40256-40257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-17000]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA No.: 84.362A]


Native Hawaiian Education Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year 
(FY) 2003.

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    Purpose of the Program: The purpose of the Native Hawaiian 
Education program, authorized under Part B of Title VII of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No 
Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. 107-110, is to support 
innovative projects that provide supplemental services that address the 
educational needs of Native Hawaiian children and adults.
    Eligible Applicants: Native Hawaiian educational organizations; 
Native-Hawaiian community-based organizations; and public and private 
nonprofit organizations, agencies, and institutions with experience in 
developing or operating Native Hawaiian programs or programs of 
instructions in the Native Hawaiian language; or consortia thereof.
    Applications Available: July 7, 2003.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: August 6, 2003.
    Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 5, 2003.
    Estimated Available Funds: $13 million. Of this amount, we will 
award approximately $5.1 million under absolute priority 1 (family-
based education centers); approximately $4.5 million under absolute 
priority 2 (curriculum and professional development); approximately 
$724,000 under absolute priority 3 (gifted and talented); approximately 
$1.7 million under absolute priority 4 (community-based learning 
centers); approximately $500,000 under absolute priority 5 (early 
childhood education) and approximately $500,000 under absolute priority 
6 (construction/renovation).
    Estimated Number of Awards: 8 under absolute priority 1; 9 under 
absolute priority 2; 1 under absolute priority 3; 3 under absolute 
priority 4; 1 under absolute priority 5; and 1 under absolute priority 
6.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $637,500 under absolute priority 
1; $500,000 under absolute priority 2; $724,000 under absolute priority 
3; $567,000 under absolute priority 4, $500,000 under absolute priority 
5; and $500,000 under absolute priority 6.

    Note: These estimates are projections for the guidance of 
potential applicants. The Department is not bound by any estimates 
in this notice.

    Project Period: Up to 36 months.
    Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 
81, 82, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
    Absolute Priorities: In the conference report accompanying the 
Department's FY 2003 Appropriations Act, Congress urged the Department 
to support Native Hawaiian education activities in certain specifically 
identified areas. In response to the conference report, the Secretary 
establishes the following separate absolute priorities under 34 CFR 
75.105(c)(3) and will fund under this competition only applicants that 
meet one of these priorities:
    Absolute Priority 1--Family-Based Education Centers--The applicant 
will use the funds received under this competition to support the 
operation of a family-based education center that provides such 
services as--
    (a) Programs for Native Hawaiian parents and their infants from the 
prenatal period of the infants through age three;
    (b) Preschool programs for Native Hawaiians; and
    (c) Research on, and development and assessment of, family-based, 
early childhood, and preschool programs for Native Hawaiians.
    Absolute Priority 2--Curriculum and Professional Development--The 
applicant will use the funds received under this competition to--
    (a) Develop academic and vocational curricula to address the needs 
of Native Hawaiian children and adults, including curriculum materials 
in the Hawaiian language and mathematics and science curricula that 
incorporate Native Hawaiian tradition and culture; or
    (b) Support professional development activities for educators, 
including--
    (i) The development of programs to prepare prospective teachers to 
address the unique needs of Native Hawaiian students within the context 
of Native Hawaiian culture, language, and traditions;
    (ii) In-service programs to improve the ability of teachers who 
teach in schools with concentrations of Native Hawaiian students to 
meet the unique needs of those students; and
    (iii) The recruitment and preparation of Native Hawaiians, and 
other individuals who live in communities with a high concentration of 
Native Hawaiians, to become teachers.
    Absolute Priority 3--Gifted and Talented--The applicant will use 
the funds received under this competition to support activities that 
address the special needs of Native Hawaiian students who are gifted 
and talented, including--
    (a) Educational, psychological, and developmental activities 
designed to assist in the educational progress of those students; and
    (b) Activities that involve the parents of those students in a 
manner designed to assist in the students' educational progress.
    Absolute Priority 4--Community-Based Learning Centers--The 
applicant will use the funds received under this competition to support 
the operation of a community-based learning center that addresses the 
needs of Native Hawaiian families and communities through the 
coordination of public and private programs and services, including--
    (a) Preschool programs;
    (b) After-school programs;
    (c) Vocational and adult education programs; and
    (d) Programs that recognize and support the unique cultural and 
educational needs of Native Hawaiian children and incorporate 
appropriately qualified Native Hawaiian elders and seniors.
    Absolute Priority 5--Early Childhood Education--The applicant will 
use the funds received under this competition for the development and 
maintenance of a Native Hawaiian early education and care system to 
provide a continuum of services for Native Hawaiian children

[[Page 40257]]

from the prenatal period of the children through age five.
    Absolute Priority 6--School Construction and Renovation--The 
applicant will use the funds received under this competition for the 
construction, renovation and modernization of any elementary school, 
secondary school, or structure related to an elementary school or 
secondary school, that is run by the Department of Education of the 
State of Hawaii and that serves a predominantly Native Hawaiian student 
body.
    Competitive Preference: The legislation at 20 U.S.C. 7515(a)(2) 
establishes specific statutory priorities. In response to these 
statutory priorities, the Secretary establishes a competitive 
preference under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2) for this competition and will 
award an applicant, in addition to any points that an applicant earns 
under the selection criteria, five points if it proposes a project that 
is designed to address one or more of the following:
    (a) Beginning reading and literacy among students in kindergarten 
through third grade;
    (b) The needs of at-risk children and youth;
    (c) Needs in fields or disciplines in which Native Hawaiians are 
underemployed; and
    (d) The use of the Hawaiian language in instruction.
    An applicant that addresses one or more of these areas will receive 
a total of five additional points in the competition. If an applicant 
addresses more than one of the four areas of this competitive 
preference, it will receive a total of five additional competitive 
preference points, rather than five points for each of the areas 
addressed.
    Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: It is the Secretary's practice, in 
accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), to 
offer interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed rules 
that are not taken directly from statute. Ordinarily, this practice 
would have applied to the priorities and requirements in this notice. 
Section 437(d)(2) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 
however, exempts from this requirement those rules where it would cause 
extreme hardship to the intended beneficiaries of the program that 
would be affected by those regulations. In accordance with section 
437(d)(2) of GEPA, the Secretary has decided to forgo public comment 
with respect to the rules in this grant competition in order to ensure 
timely and high-quality awards. These rules will apply only to the FY 
2003 grant competition.
    For Applications and Information Contact: Mrs. Lynn Thomas, (202) 
260-1541, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., FOB6, 
Room 3C124, Mail Stop 6140, Washington, DC 20202. The e-mail address 
for Mrs. Thomas is: [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.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package in an alternative format, also, by contacting that person. 
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: www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have any questions about using PDF, call the 
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) at (202) 512-1530 or, toll free, 
at 1-888-293-6498.

    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. 7515-7517.

    Dated: June 30, 2003.
Eugene W. Hickok,
Under Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 03-17000 Filed 7-3-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U