[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18728-18730]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-5438]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Magnet Schools Assistance Program

AGENCY: Office of Innovation and Improvement, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority.

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[[Page 18729]]

SUMMARY: The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement 
proposes a priority under the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP). 
The Assistant Deputy Secretary may use this priority for competitions 
in fiscal year (FY) 2007 and in later years. We intend this priority to 
encourage eligible applicants to focus on expanding their capacity to 
provide public school choice by using magnet schools to provide public 
school choice options to parents whose children attend schools that 
have been identified for school improvement, corrective action, or 
restructuring under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA).

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 12, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority to Steven 
L. Brockhouse, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 
room 4W229, Washington, DC 20202-5970. If you prefer to send your 
comments through the Internet, use the following address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven L. Brockhouse. Telephone: (202) 
260-2476 or via Internet: [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may 
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) 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 proposed priority. 
To ensure that your comments have maximum effect in developing the 
notice of final priority, we urge you to identify clearly the element 
of the proposed priority 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 this proposed 
priority. 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 proposed priority in room 4W229, 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 this proposed priority. If you want to schedule 
an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

General Information

    The MSAP provides grants to eligible local educational agencies 
(LEAs) and consortia of LEAs to support magnet schools that are part of 
an approved desegregation plan. For the purpose of the MSAP, a magnet 
school is a public elementary school, public secondary school, public 
elementary education center, or public secondary education center that 
offers a special curriculum capable of attracting substantial numbers 
of students of different racial backgrounds.
    Through the implementation of magnet schools, MSAP resources 
support objectives and activities that enable all elementary and 
secondary students to achieve to high standards, hold schools and LEAs 
accountable for ensuring they do so, and help schools and LEAs develop 
and design innovative educational methods and practices that support 
desegregation efforts to eliminate, reduce, or prevent minority group 
isolation and increase choices in public elementary and secondary 
schools.

Background on Proposed Priority

    Consistent with the statutory purpose of the MSAP, magnet schools 
are designed to eliminate, reduce, or prevent minority group isolation 
in schools with substantial numbers or percentages of minority group 
students, bring students of different backgrounds together, assist LEAs 
in achieving systemic reforms, provide all students the opportunity to 
meet challenging State content standards and challenging State 
performance standards, and increase choices in public elementary and 
secondary schools.
    The priority we are proposing, Expanding Capacity to Provide 
Choice, would provide eligible LEAs with an opportunity to continue to 
use magnet schools, consistent with their desegregation plan objectives 
for the elimination, reduction, or prevention of minority group 
isolation, to expand their capacity to provide public school choice to 
parents whose children attend schools identified for school 
improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.
    The proposed priority would provide eligible applicants the 
flexibility to use either or both of two approaches to expanding their 
capacity to provide public school choice.
    First, an eligible applicant could convert one or more schools 
identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring under 
Title I to magnet schools in order to improve the quality of teaching 
and instruction in these schools. Using this approach, conversion of a 
school to a magnet school would benefit students already attending the 
school by offering a magnet curriculum that would include subject 
matter or teaching methodology that is generally not available at other 
schools in the LEA and would be more challenging and innovative than 
the curricular program that the school had previously provided. The 
implementation of the magnet curriculum, along with resources such as 
equipment, supplies and staff development to support the implementation 
of the magnet curriculum, would also help the school reduce, eliminate, 
or prevent minority group isolation at the magnet school and/or at the 
sending schools by attracting other students, including higher-
achieving students of different backgrounds, based on their interest in 
a curricular program that would not be available to them in the schools 
that they would otherwise attend.
    Second, an eligible applicant could use higher-performing schools 
as magnet schools and, by doing so, significantly increase the 
opportunity for students attending schools identified for school 
improvement, corrective action, or restructuring to participate in 
public school choice by attending a higher-performing school. Using 
this approach, an eligible applicant would need to ensure that the 
magnet school would have sufficient space available to accommodate 
students who would likely be interested in transferring from schools 
identified for school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. 
Additionally, the LEA would need to show how the enrollment of the 
magnet and/or sending schools

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(i.e., the schools identified for school improvement, corrective 
action, or restructuring from which students would transfer) would 
change in a manner that resulted in the elimination, reduction, or 
prevention of minority group isolation in those sending schools.
    Under either approach, an applicant would be required to show how 
it would effectively inform parents whose children attend schools 
identified for school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring 
about the new choices made available to them in the magnet schools to 
be funded under the project.
    We will announce the final priority in a notice in the Federal 
Register. We will determine the final priority 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, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking 
requirements.

    Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in 
which we choose to use this proposed priority, we invite 
applications through a notice in the Federal Register. When inviting 
applications we designate the priority as absolute, competitive 
preference, or invitational. 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)).

Priority

Expanding Capacity to Provide Choice

    This proposed priority supports applications that would--
    (1) Help parents whose children attend low-performing schools (that 
is, schools that have been identified for school improvement, 
corrective action, or restructuring under Title I of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended) by--
    (a) Selecting schools identified for school improvement, corrective 
action, or restructuring under Title I as magnet schools to be funded 
under this project and improving the quality of teaching and 
instruction in these schools; or
    (b) Maximizing the opportunity for students in low-performing 
schools to attend higher-performing magnet schools funded under the 
project and thereby reduce minority group isolation in the low-
performing sending schools; and
    (2) Effectively inform parents whose children attend low-performing 
schools about choices that are available to them in the magnet schools 
to be funded under the project.

    Note: For the purpose of selecting applications under this 
priority, school improvement has the meaning given in 34 CFR 
200.32(a)(1), corrective action has the meaning given in 34 CFR 
200.33(a), and restructuring has the meaning given in 34 CFR 
200.34(a).

Executive Order 12866

    This notice of proposed priority 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 priority 
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 priority, we have 
determined that the benefits of the proposed priority 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.
    Summary of potential costs and benefits: The potential cost 
associated with this proposed priority is minimal while the benefits 
are significant.
    The benefit of the proposed priority is that it will help 
applicants prepare high-quality proposals that expand their capacity to 
provide public school choice to parents whose children attend schools 
that have not made adequate yearly progress.

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.
    Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR part 280.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may review 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/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 at the following site: 
http://www.ed.gov/programs/magnet/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.


    (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.165A Magnet 
Schools Assistance Program)


    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7231-7231j.

    Dated: April 7, 2006.
Christopher J. Doherty,
Acting Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. E6-5438 Filed 4-11-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P