[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11623-11625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-4616]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Grants to States To Improve Management of Drug and Violence 
Prevention Programs

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

ACTION: Notice of proposed priorities and requirements.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools 
proposes priorities and requirements under the Safe and Drug-Free 
Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA) National Programs for the Grants 
to States to Improve Management of Drug and Violence Prevention 
Programs. We may use one or more of these priorities and requirements 
for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2005 and later years. We take this 
action to focus Federal financial assistance on an identified national 
need. We intend the priorities and requirements to facilitate the 
development, enhancement, or expansion of the capacity of States and 
other entities that receive SDFSCA State Grants program funds to 
collect, analyze, and use data to improve the management of drug and 
violence prevention programs.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 8, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about these proposed priorities and 
requirements to: Deborah Rudy, U.S. Department of Education, 400 
Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3E330, Washington, DC 20202-6450. If you 
prefer to send your comments through the Internet, use the following 
address: [email protected].
    You must include the term ``184R Comments'' in the subject line of 
your electronic message.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Rudy, Telephone: (202) 260-
1875 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 contact person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Invitation to Comment

    We invite you to submit comments regarding these proposed 
priorities and requirements. To ensure that your

[[Page 11624]]

comments have maximum effect in developing the notice of final 
priorities and requirements, we urge you to identify clearly the 
specific proposed priority or requirement that each comment addresses.
    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 
priorities and requirements. 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 priorities and requirements in room 
3E330, 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.

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 priorities and requirements. If 
you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Proposed Priorities and Requirements

    We will announce the final priorities and requirements in a notice 
in the Federal Register. We will determine the final priorities and 
requirements after considering responses to this notice and other 
information available to the Department. This notice does not preclude 
us from proposing or funding additional priorities or requirements 
subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.

    Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in 
which we choose to use one or more of these proposed priorities or 
requirements, we invite applications through a notice in the Federal 
Register. The effect of each type of priority follows:

    Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority we consider only 
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
    Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference 
priority we give competitive preference to an application by either (1) 
awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent to 
which the application meets the competitive priority (34 CFR 
75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting an application that meets the 
competitive priority over an application of comparable merit that does 
not meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
    Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority we are 
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational 
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the 
invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over other 
applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).

Priorities

Proposed Priorities

Proposed Absolute Priority-Developing, Enhancing, or Expanding the 
Capacity of States and Other Entities that Receive SDFSCA State Grants 
Funds to Collect, Analyze, and use Data to Improve the Quality of Drug 
and Violence Prevention Programs
    Background: States and their local communities are implementing a 
variety of programs, activities, and strategies designed to prevent 
youth drug use and violence in schools. Just as policymakers, education 
professionals, and parents seek reliable information about student 
academic progress, stakeholders also need sufficient information and 
data to assess the nature of youth drug and violence problems in their 
communities, select research-based approaches to preventing these 
problems, and determine whether these prevention efforts are effective.
    The U.S. Department of Education currently requires States to 
collect and report data on youth drug and violence prevention problems 
and prevention efforts through a uniform management information and 
reporting system (UMIRS) that States must establish under section 
4112(c)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as 
amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 
7112(c)(3)). States also need to use objective data about school safety 
to meet the Unsafe School Choice Option (USCO) requirements in section 
9532 of the ESEA.
    States and local communities face several challenges in 
implementing these requirements and in turn operating and managing 
effective drug and violence prevention programs. These challenges may 
include:
     Lack of standardized collection instruments and 
definitions both within and across States;
     Lack of expertise related to collecting data about youth 
drug use and violence;
     Lack of time and other resources to support high-quality 
data collection and analysis in these areas;
     Unfavorable community and media reaction to high rates of 
youth drug use and violence that discourages full and accurate 
reporting; and
     Negative consequences for administrators whose schools 
have high rates of violent incidents.
    The Department is proposing this priority therefore to provide 
support to States to explore strategies that will help them address 
these challenges so that they can enhance their capacity to collect and 
use data to assess and improve the implementation of their drug and 
violence prevention programs.
    Absolute Priority: This priority would support projects to develop, 
enhance, or expand the capacity of States and other entities that 
receive SDFSCA State Grants program funds to collect, analyze, and use 
data to improve the management of drug and violence prevention 
programs. At a minimum, applicants must propose projects to develop, 
enhance, or expand the capacity of the State educational agency (SEA), 
the State agency administering the Governor's funding under the SDFSCA 
State Grants program, and local educational agencies and community-
based organizations that receive SDFSCA State Grants program funding.
    Specifically, projects must be designed to:
    (a) Include activities designed to expand the capacity of local 
recipients of SDFSCA funds to use data to assess needs, establish 
performance measures, select appropriate interventions, monitor 
progress toward established performance measures, and disseminate 
information about youth drug use and violence to the public;
    (b) Collect data that, at a minimum, meet the requirements of the 
UMIRS described in section 4112(c)(3) of the ESEA;
    (c) Operate with the aid of a technology-based system for analyzing 
and interpreting school crime and violence data;
    (d) Be consistent with the State's Performance-Based Data 
Management Initiative (PBDMI) strategy and produce data that can be 
transmitted to the U.S. Department of Education via the Department's 
Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN) project, which facilitates the 
transfer of information from State administrative records to the 
Department to satisfy reporting requirements for certain programs

[[Page 11625]]

administered by the Department, including the SDFSCA State Grants 
program;
    (e) Be an enhancement to, or capable of merging data with, the 
State's student information system if such exists or if the State does 
not yet have a statewide, longitudinal student data system, the project 
should include the capacity to merge with such a system in the future; 
and
    (f) Include validation and verification activities at the State and 
sub-State recipient levels designed to ensure the accuracy of data 
collected and reported.
Proposed Competitive Preference Priority--Use of Uniform Crime 
Reporting Definitions
    Background: Uniform definitions of data elements make it easier for 
stakeholders to collect, analyze, and compare data across district, 
county, State, and other boundaries. The Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program is the most 
universal crime reporting system in the country and collects 
information about the following crimes: Homicide; forcible rape; 
robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; larceny-theft; motor vehicle 
theft; and arson. The majority of States have a UCR program and many 
require mandatory reporting. Further information about the UCR is 
available online at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.
    Competitive Preference Priority: The collection of incident data 
for projects under Priority 1 will be done in a manner consistent with 
the definitions and protocols developed under the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's UCR program.
Other Proposed Requirements
    Eligibility of Applicants: We propose that eligible applicants for 
this program be limited to State educational agencies (SEAs) or other 
State agencies administering the SDFSCA State Grants program.
    We propose this requirement to focus projects on Statewide systems 
of data collection that support the UMIRS requirements. Local or 
regional projects are inconsistent with the emphasis in the SDFSCA on 
Statewide data collection systems for youth drug and violence 
prevention information.
    Memorandum of Understanding: We propose that applicants be required 
to include a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in their application 
that outlines project roles and responsibilities of the participants 
and that contains:
    1. The signatures of:
    a. The authorized representative(s) for the SEA, and
    b. The authorized representative(s) for the State agency (or 
agencies) receiving the Governor's portion of SDFSCA State Grants 
program funding for the State.
    2. Evidence that the proposal has been reviewed by, and has the 
approval of, the State's chief information officer (CIO) and/or chief 
technology officer (CTO). The CIO and/or CTO may sign the required 
memorandum of understanding, or may provide a separate document 
including the required assurance.
    We propose this requirement in order to ensure that entities 
responsible for the development of the UMIRS within a State will be 
involved in the design and implementation of any funded project, and 
that technical aspects of the project have the approval of the State 
official charged with overseeing information management and technology 
issues within the State.
    Technology-Based System: We propose that each application be 
required to include a proposal for a technology-based system for 
collecting, analyzing, and interpreting school crime and violence data. 
Grant funds may be used in a variety of ways to support this system, 
including updating an existing infrastructure, conducting basic 
planning, and capacity building.
    We propose this requirement to ensure that grant funds are used to 
support the development of a system that takes advantage of widely 
available technology to support the efficient collection, analysis and 
interpretation of school crime and violence data.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice of proposed priorities and requirements has been 
reviewed in accordance with Executive Order 12866. Under the terms of 
the order, we have assessed the potential costs and benefits of this 
regulatory action.
    The potential costs associated with the notice of proposed 
priorities and requirements are those resulting from statutory 
requirements and those we have determined as necessary for 
administering this program effectively and efficiently.
    In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative 
and qualitative--of this notice of proposed priorities and 
requirements, we have determined that the benefits of the proposed 
priorities justify the costs.
    We have also determined that this regulatory action does not unduly 
interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the exercise of 
their governmental functions.

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 documents of this Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the 
Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/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/programs/dvpstatemanagement/applicant.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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.



    Dated: March 4, 2005.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.184R Grants to 
States to Improve Management of Drug and Violence Prevention 
Programs.)

    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131.
Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
[FR Doc. 05-4616 Filed 3-8-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4001-01-P