[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 47 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13135-13136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5547]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Notice of Proposed Information Collection Requests

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Comment request.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Education (the Department), in accordance 
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of 
information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its 
information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden 
on the public and helps the public understand the Department's 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. The Director, Information Collection Clearance 
Division, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of 
Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection 
requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
May 9, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Comments regarding burden and/or the collection activity 
requirements should be electronically mailed to [email protected] or 
mailed to U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., LBJ, 
Washington, DC 20202-4537. Please note that written comments received 
in response to this notice will be considered public records.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires that Federal agencies provide 
interested parties an early opportunity to comment on information 
collection requests. The Director, Information Collection Clearance 
Division, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of 
Management, publishes this notice containing proposed information 
collection requests at the beginning of the Departmental review of the 
information collection. The Department of Education is especially 
interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is 
this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Department; 
(2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) 
is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Department 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (5) how might the Department minimize the burden of this 
collection on the respondents, including through the use of information 
technology.

    Dated: March 7, 2011.
Darrin A. King,
Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Regulatory 
Information Management Services, Office of Management.

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services

    Type of Review: Revision.
    Title of Collection: Annual Progress Report for the Title III 
Alternative Financing Program Under the Assistive Technology Act of 
1998.
    OMB Control Number: 1820-0662.
    Agency Form Number(s): N/A.
    Frequency of Responses: Annually.

[[Page 13136]]

    Affected Public: Federal Government; Not-for-profit institutions; 
State, Local, or Tribal Government, State Educational Agencies or Local 
Educational Agencies.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 33.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 891.
    Abstract: Title III of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 as in 
effect prior to the amendments of 2004 (Pub. L. 105-394) (AT Act of 
1998) authorized grants to public agencies to support the establishment 
and maintenance of alternative financing programs (AFPs) that feature 
one or more alternative financing mechanisms to enable individuals with 
disabilities and their family members, guardians, advocates, and 
authorized representatives to purchase assistive technology (AT). 
Section 307 of title III requires that RSA submit to Congress an annual 
report on the activities conducted under that title. In order to meet 
this requirement, states must provide annual progress reports to 
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). This annual report is a 
web-based data collection system developed based upon the instrument 
submitted for review herein.
    The proposed instrument eliminates an entire section of optional 
information that is not required for submission by the title III AFP 
grantees, further reducing the burden from approximately 29.5 hours to 
27 hours per state. Section C. AFP Optional Data Elements, which are 
not title III annual reporting requirements for the AFP grantees, has 
been proposed for removal from the current instrument. The information 
collected in this optional data section includes: 1. Types of AFP 
(partnership loans or revolving loans), 2. Interest Rates (lowest and 
highest interest rates established by policy), 3. Loan Amounts (lowest 
and highest loan amounts established by policy), 4. Repayment Terms 
(shortest and longest repayment terms established by policy), and Loan 
Guarantee Requirement, the percentage of the loans that must be repaid 
by the AFP to the lender in case of default as established by the 
agreement with the lender. Since the data reported under C. AFP 
Optional Data Elements of the current instrument is not required by 
title III of the AT Act of 1998, grantees did not report this 
information uniformly across programs. If every grantee doesn't report 
in this section, then the data can't be reported in aggregate form. In 
fact, the data in this section is available in the annual report to 
Congress on the AT Act, as this optional section contains information 
about program features and descriptions that may or may not change on 
an annual basis. Since there is no utility to the annual reporting of 
this optional information, the decision was made to further reduce the 
burden to all grantees by eliminating this section from the current 
instrument in the Management Information Systems.
    Copies of the proposed information collection request may be 
accessed from http://edicsweb.ed.gov, by selecting the ``Browse Pending 
Collections'' link and by clicking on link number 4540. When you access 
the information collection, click on ``Download Attachments'' to view. 
Written requests for information should be addressed to U.S. Department 
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., LBJ, Washington, DC 20202-4537. 
Requests may also be electronically mailed to [email protected] or 
faxed to 202-401-0920. Please specify the complete title of the 
information collection and OMB Control Number when making your request.
    Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-
8339.

[FR Doc. 2011-5547 Filed 3-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P