[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 156 (Friday, August 13, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49432-49435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-20065]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Part 222
[Docket ID ED-2010-OESE-0013]
RIN 1810-AB11
Impact Aid Programs
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations governing the
Impact Aid Discretionary Construction Program, which is authorized
under section 8007(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965, as amended (ESEA). Through this program, the Department provides
competitive grants for emergency repairs and modernization of school
facilities to certain eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) that
receive Impact Aid formula funds. The proposed regulations amend a
provision regarding the submission of applications for these Federal
funds, which the Department believes will improve the administration
and distribution of funds under this program. The proposed regulations
would apply to the grant competitions after the competition for fiscal
year (FY) 2009 funds.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before September 13, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments by fax or by e-mail. Please submit your comments only
one time, in order to ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies.
In addition, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically.
[[Page 49433]]
Information on using Regulations.gov, including instructions for
accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and viewing the
docket, is available on the site under ``How To Use This Site.''
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery. If you
mail or deliver your comments about these proposed regulations, address
them to Catherine Schagh, Director, Impact Aid Program, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 3E105, LBJ, Washington, DC
20202.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy for comments received from
members of the public (including those comments submitted by mail,
commercial delivery, or hand delivery) is to make these submissions
available for public viewing in their entirety on the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only
information that they wish to make publicly available on the
Internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Walls-Rivas, Impact Aid
Program, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 260-1357 or by e-mail:
[email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the
Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in this section.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation To Comment
We invite you to submit comments regarding these proposed
regulations.
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
regulations. 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 regulations by accessing Regulations.gov.
You may also inspect the comments, in person, in Room 3C101, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m.
and 4:00 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 regulations. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background
The Impact Aid Discretionary Construction Program is authorized
under section 8007(b) of the ESEA.
The purpose of this program is to assist certain eligible Impact
Aid LEAs in meeting the emergency or modernization needs of their
school facilities. The current regulations governing the Impact Aid
Discretionary Construction Program are in 34 CFR 222.170 through
222.196 and were most recently amended on March 15, 2004, to govern the
FY 2003 and subsequent grant competitions (69 FR 12234). Through this
notice, we are proposing to amend Sec. 222.183 governing the
submission of multiple grant applications. The proposed amendment is
based on our experience in implementing this program since the most
recent regulations were published in 2004.
Significant Proposed Regulations
Section 222.183 How does an LEA apply for a grant?
Statute: Section 8007(b)(6) of the ESEA provides that an LEA that
desires to receive a grant shall submit an application to the Secretary
at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as
the Secretary may require.
Current Regulations: Current Sec. 222.183 specifies several
application requirements, and provides that a local educational agency
(LEA) may submit multiple applications for multiple educational
facilities in a fiscal year.
Proposed Regulations: The proposed regulations would limit an LEA
to submitting one application for one facility per competition.
Reasons: In 2004, when the most recent Impact Aid Discretionary
Construction Program regulations were issued, the Department did not
know how many LEAs would qualify for funding nor what the magnitude of
their need would be under this program. Accordingly, we originally
provided in the regulations that an applicant could submit multiple
applications per competition so that the applicant would be able to
separate into different applications different types of projects with
different levels of urgency.
Our intent was to make the competition flexible and to ensure that
we received enough high-quality applications to enable the Department
to use the full appropriated amount.
The competitions under this program are based primarily on
statutorily mandated objective and subjective scoring. Objective scores
measure: the percentage of students in the LEA who are eligible under
section 8003 of the Impact Aid Program; the percentage of those
students enrolled in the building for which funding is sought; the area
of tax-exempt Federal property in the LEA; and the LEA's assessed value
of real property and its tax rate. If an LEA receives high scores on
these objective criteria, its proposed projects may rank higher on the
funding list than the condition of its building(s) (i.e., the
subjective measure) would warrant, and LEAs with more urgent facility
needs would not be funded. This has resulted in the unintended
consequence of a few LEAs receiving high percentages of the available
funding. For example, from the FY 2006 competition, one LEA received 13
out of 25 grants and 73 percent of the funds.
In addition, since this program was first funded and operated under
the March 15, 2004, final regulations, the appropriation levels have
decreased significantly, from $27 million (in FY 2003) to approximately
$17 million (in FY 2009). With this reduction and given the scoring
structure, if a single applicant receives multiple awards, an even
smaller portion of the remaining funds is available for distribution to
other LEAs, which generally has meant that the funds could not reach a
larger pool of the eligible applicants.
These proposed regulations would give more applicants an
opportunity to receive grants to remediate urgent emergency and
modernization needs in their school facilities. We seek comments on
alternative approaches that would permit the Department to distribute
grant funding to a larger number of LEAs.
Executive Order 12866: Under Executive Order 12866, the Secretary
must determine whether the regulatory action is ``significant'' and
therefore subject to the requirements of the Executive order and
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Section
3(f) of Executive Order 12866 defines a ``significant regulatory
action'' as an action likely to result in a rule that may (1) Have an
annual effect
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on the economy of $100 million or more, or adversely affect a sector of
the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public
health or safety, or State, local or tribal governments or communities
in a material way (also referred to as an ``economically significant''
rule); (2) create serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an
action taken or planned by another agency; (3) materially alter the
budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, user fees, or loan programs or
the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) raise novel
legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President's
priorities, or the principles set forth in the Executive order.
Pursuant to the terms of the Executive order, it has been determined
that this regulatory action is not a significant regulatory action
subject to OMB review under section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866.
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.
Clarity of the Regulations
Executive Order 12866 and the Presidential memorandum on ``Plain
Language in Government Writing'' require each agency to write
regulations that are easy to understand.
The Secretary invites comments on how to make these proposed
regulations easier to understand, including answers to questions such
as the following:
Are the requirements in the proposed regulations clearly
stated?
Do the proposed regulations contain technical terms or
other wording that interferes with their clarity?
Does the format of the proposed regulations (grouping and
order of sections, use of headings, paragraphing, etc.) aid or reduce
their clarity?
Would the proposed regulations be easier to understand if
we divided them into more (but shorter) sections?
Could the description of the proposed regulations in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this preamble be more helpful in
making the proposed regulations easier to understand? If so, how?
What else could we do to make the proposed regulations
easier to understand?
To send any comments that concern how the Department could make
these proposed regulations easier to understand, see the instructions
in the ADDRESSES section of this preamble.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that these proposed regulations would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. The small entities that would be affected by these
regulations are small LEAs receiving Federal funds under this program.
In the FY 2008 grant competition, fewer than 50 applications that were
eligible to be evaluated by field readers were from small entities. In
addition, we do not believe that the regulations would have a
significant economic impact on the limited number of small LEAs
affected, because the regulations would not impose excessive regulatory
burdens or require unnecessary Federal supervision.
The proposed regulations would benefit both small and large
entities in that they would provide more equitable opportunities for
funding of school construction needs.
The proposed regulations would impose minimal paperwork burden
requirements for all applicants and minimal requirements with which the
grant recipients must comply. However, the Secretary specifically
invites comments on the effects of the proposed regulations on small
entities, and on whether there may be further opportunities to reduce
any potential adverse impact or increase potential benefits resulting
from these proposed regulations without impeding the effective and
efficient administration of the Impact Aid Discretionary Construction
Program. Commenters are requested to describe the nature of any effect
and provide empirical data and other factual support for their views to
the extent possible.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
The proposed amendment to Sec. 222.183 would modify the
information collection requirements in that section; the Department
does not believe the proposed changes add any new burden or decrease
any burden to local educational agencies. The burden associated with
Sec. 222.183 was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1810-0687,
which expires 9/30/2011. The proposed amendment would limit the number
of applications to one per LEA. The Department expects that LEAs that
have in the past scored lower on the objective scoring criteria will be
encouraged to apply and the total number of applications will remain
the same.
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.
Assessment of Educational Impact
In accordance with section 411 of the General Education Provisions
Act, 20 U.S.C. 1221e-4, the Secretary particularly requests comments on
whether these proposed regulations would require transmission of
information that any other agency or authority of the United States
gathers or makes available.
Electronic Access to This Document: You can 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.
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 84.041 Impact Aid
Discretionary Construction Program)
List of Subjects in 34 CFR Part 222
Education, Education of children with disabilities, Educational
facilities, Elementary and secondary education, Federally affected
areas, Grant programs-education, Indians--education, Public housing,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, School construction, Schools.
Thelma Mel[eacute]ndez de Santa Ana,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Secretary proposes
to amend part 222 of title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
PART 222--IMPACT AID PROGRAMS
1. The authority citation for part 222 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7701-7714, unless otherwise noted.
2. Section 222.183 is amended by revising paragraph (a) to read as
follows:
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Sec. 222.183 How does an LEA apply for a grant?
(a) To apply for funds under this program, an LEA may submit only
one application for one educational facility for each competition.
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[FR Doc. 2010-20065 Filed 8-12-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P