[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 12 (Friday, January 19, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2501-2502]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-760]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA 84.060A]


Indian Education Formula Grants to Local Educational Agencies--
Notice Inviting Applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007

AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of 
Education.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Purpose of Program: The Indian Education Formula Grant to Local 
Educational Agencies program provides grants to support local 
educational agencies (LEAs) and other eligible entities described in 
this notice in their efforts to reform and improve elementary and 
secondary school programs that serve Indian students. The Department 
funds programs designed to assist Indian students to meet the same 
challenging State academic content and student academic achievement 
standards used for all students. In addition, under section 7116 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), the 
Secretary will, upon receipt of an acceptable plan for the integration 
of education and related services, authorize the entity receiving the 
funds under this program to consolidate, in accordance with the 
entity's plan, the funds for any Federal program exclusively serving 
Indian children, or the funds reserved under any Federal program to 
exclusively serve Indian children, that are awarded under a statutory 
or administrative formula to the entity, for the purposes of providing 
education and related services to Indian students. Instructions for 
submitting an integration of education and related services plan are 
included in the web-based EASIE application system described elsewhere 
in this notice under Application Process and Submission Information.
    Eligible Applicants: LEAs, certain schools funded by the Bureau of 
Indian

[[Page 2502]]

Affairs, and Indian tribes under certain conditions, as prescribed by 
section 7112(c) of the ESEA.
    Application Process and Submission Information: The application 
process for the Indian Education Formula Grants to Local Educational 
Agencies program has changed to the Formula Grant Electronic 
Application System for Indian Education (EASIE), an easy-to-use, web-
based application system. Formula Grant EASIE provides special features 
that will progressively enhance data availability and performance 
reporting for applicants, including the use of data from State 
submissions to EDFacts, the Department's data collection system 
containing performance information from State educational agencies 
about schools and Federal education programs. To the extent that your 
State has provided the necessary EDFacts data files, Formula Grant 
EASIE will be able to interface with EDFacts and pull that LEA-specific 
data into the application. Additionally, this new system allows the 
Department to review applications and interact online with applicants 
during the application review and approval process.
    Although you may download and print sample forms from the system, 
the application must be submitted electronically through the Formula 
Grant EASIE unless you do not have Internet access and have made prior 
arrangements with the Department. For approval to submit a paper 
application, you must contact the EDFacts Partner Support Center (see 
the contact information listed elsewhere in this notice under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) prior to the deadline for transmittal of 
Part I or Part II applications. If you are approved to submit a paper 
application, you must meet the submission deadlines included in this 
notice.
    Registration for Formula Grant EASIE is required. For information 
on how to register, contact the EDFacts Partner Support Center listed 
elsewhere in this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    The Formula Grant EASIE application is divided into two parts--Part 
I and Part II.
    Part I, Student Count, provides the appropriate data entry screens 
to submit your Indian student count totals.
    Part II, Program and Budget Information, provides your award amount 
based on the Indian student count total submitted under Part I. Part II 
also enables you to enter student performance data, identify your 
project's services and activities, and build a realistic program budget 
based on a known grant amount. Based on student assessment data, you 
will select your program objectives and services from a variety of menu 
options that were designed with grantee input.

    Note: The information to be collected under Part II of the 
application is currently under review by the Office of Management 
and Budget. The Department will not request applicants to submit 
information under Part II of the application until the collection of 
that information is approved. The deadline for transmittal of Part 
II data or applications, along with further information concerning 
Part II, will be announced in a separate notice in the Federal 
Register.


DATES: Part I of Formula Grant EASIE Available: December 12, 2006.
    Deadline for Transmittal of PART I Applications: February 20, 2007.
    Applications not meeting the deadline for Part I will not be 
considered for funding in the initial allocation of awards. 
Applications or data submissions under Part II will be accepted only 
from those eligible applicants that meet the Part I deadline.
    If funds become available after the initial allocation of funds, 
applications not meeting the deadline may be considered for funding if 
the Secretary determines, under section 7118(d) of the ESEA, that 
reallocation of those funds to applicants filing after the deadline 
would best assist in advancing the purposes of the program. However, 
the amount and length of an individual award, if any, may be less than 
the applicant would have received had the application been submitted on 
time.
    Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested 
$95,331,000 for this program for FY 2007. The actual level of funding, 
if any, depends on final Congressional action. However, we are inviting 
applications to allow enough time to complete the grant process if 
Congress appropriates funds for this program.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $3,000-$2,000,000.
    Estimated Average Size of Awards: $80,422.
    Estimated Number of Awards: 1,185.

    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this 
notice and funding levels may change based on final appropriations 
for the program.

    Project Period: 12 months.
    Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR Parts 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 
82, 84, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.

    Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants 
except federally recognized Indian tribes.

    Performance Measures: The Secretary has established the following 
key performance measures for assessing the effectiveness of the Indian 
Education Formula Grants to Local Educational Agency program: (1) The 
percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native students in grades 4 
and 8 who are at or above the basic level in reading on the National 
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP); and (2) the percentage of 
American Indian and Alaska Native students in grades 4 and 8 who are at 
or above the basic level in mathematics on NAEP.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the EDFacts Partner Support 
Center, Telephone: 877-457-3336 (877-HLP-EDEN) or by e-mail at: [email protected].
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the EDFacts Partner Support Center 1-888-403-3336 (888-403-
EDEN).
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application 
package or a copy of this document in an alternative format (e.g., 
Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request by 
contacting the EDFacts Partner Support Center.
    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/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.

    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.


    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7421 et seq.

    Dated: January 16, 2007.
Ray Simon,
Deputy Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E7-760 Filed 1-18-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P