[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 20 (Monday, January 31, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5363-5364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2079]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Intent To Compromise Claim Against the State of Oklahoma 
Department of Education

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of intent to compromise claim with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Department of Education (Department) intends 
to compromise a claim against the Oklahoma Department of Education 
(Oklahoma) now pending before the Office of Administrative Law Judges 
(OALJ), Docket No. 07-04-R. Before compromising a claim, the Department 
must publish its intent to do so in the Federal Register and provide 
the public an opportunity to comment on that action.

DATES: We must receive your comments on the proposed action on or 
before March 17, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning the proposed action to 
Ronald B. Petracca, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 6E111, Washington, DC 20202-
2110.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ronald B. Petracca, Telephone: (202) 
401-6008. 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, audio tape, 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 action. 
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments in room 6E312, FB-6, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, 
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Eastern

[[Page 5364]]

time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing Comments

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

Background

    On December 21, 2006, the Assistant Secretary for Special Education 
and Rehabilitative Services (Assistant Secretary) issued a final 
program determination letter (PDL) seeking to recover from Oklahoma 
$583,943.29 of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 
Act (IDEA-B) funds. These funds, based on a finding in a single audit 
of Oklahoma (Audit Control Number 06-04-58175), were determined by the 
Assistant Secretary to have been expended, during fiscal year 2003, in 
violation of the IDEA-B's maintenance of effort requirement set out in 
34 CFR 300.230-300.233 (2003).\1\ Specifically, the PDL identified 76 
LEAs in Oklahoma that violated the maintenance of effort requirement 
and the amount of that violation for each of those LEAs.
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    \1\ When new regulations for the IDEA-B program were issued in 
2006, the maintenance of effort requirements were re-codified at 34 
CFR 300.203-300.205.
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    Oklahoma filed an Application for Review of this PDL with the 
Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) on February 26, 2007. On 
April 16, 2007, the OALJ granted the parties Joint Motion to Conduct 
Voluntary Discovery, Engage in Settlement, Negotiations, and Suspend 
the Procedural Schedule (Joint Motion). Since this Joint Motion was 
granted, Oklahoma has presented the Department with extensive 
documentation and analysis, not available to the Department at the time 
the PDL was issued, to support its contention that the total level of 
the maintenance of effort violation was lower than set out in the PDL. 
On the basis of that documentation the Assistant Secretary, on November 
22, 2010, filed a Notice of Reduction of Claim with the OALJ that 
reduced the claim in this matter from $583,943.29 to $289,501.76.
    The Department proposes to compromise this remaining claim to 
$217,126.32. Based on litigation risks and the costs of proceeding 
through the administrative and, possibly, court process for this 
appeal, the Department has determined that it would not be practical or 
in the public interest to continue this proceeding. In addition, in 
light of corrective actions Oklahoma has taken, we do not anticipate 
recurrence of this maintenance of effort violation. As a result, under 
the authority in 20 U.S.C. 1234a(j), the Department has determined that 
compromise of this claim for $217,126.32 is appropriate. The public is 
invited to comment on the Department's intent to compromise this claim. 
Additional information may be obtained by calling or writing to Ronald 
B. Petracca at the telephone number and address listed at the beginning 
of this notice.

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://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.ed.gov/legislation/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://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.access.gop.gov/nara/index.html.


    Program Authority:  20 U.S.C. 1234a(j).

    Delegation of Authority: The Secretary of Education has delegated 
authority to Thomas Skelly, Director, Budget Service, to perform the 
functions and duties of the Chief Financial Officer of the Department 
of Education.

    Dated: January 26, 2011.
Thomas Skelly,
Director, Budget Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-2079 Filed 1-28-11; 8:45 am]
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