[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 133 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44786-44788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14888]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2023-SCC-0100]


Identifying Burden Across Department of Education Information 
Collection Requests; Request for Public Input

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO), Office of Planning, 
Evaluation and Policy Development (OPEPD), Department of Education.

ACTION: Request for public input.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is seeking 
comments from the public on how it can reduce the burden associated 
with its information collection requests (ICRs) on State, local, 
territorial, and Tribal governments, educational institutions, 
nonprofits, and individuals, while maintaining data, information, and 
analyses critical to fulfill the Department's mission. This effort will 
help the Department identify improvements, redundancies in information 
collections, and inefficiencies in collections in order to improve the 
value and use of data.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
August 14, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice should be 
submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
https://

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www.regulations.gov. If this site is not available to the public for 
any reason, the Department will temporarily accept comments at 
[email protected]. If comments cannot be submitted electronically, 
please submit by postal mail or delivery to the following address: 
Manager of the Strategic Collections and Clearance Team, Governance and 
Strategy Division, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, 
LBJ, Room 4C210, Washington, DC 20202-8240. A list of active ICRs is 
available on reginfo.gov. Find the list of current information 
collections by selecting ``Department of Education'' from the Select 
Agency picklist under ``Current Inventory,'' and click ``Submit.'' 
Please reference the OMB control number when submitting comments 
regarding a specific ICR. Comments submitted after the comment period 
will not be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Joanne Bogart, 
[email protected] and 202-205-7855.
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Public Participation: Interested persons are invited to comment on 
this notice by submitting written data, views, or arguments using the 
method identified in the ADDRESSES section.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this notice. All comments received will be posted 
without change to http://www.regulations.gov. Please exclude any 
personally identifiable information.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

Background

    The Department collects information to support and advance its 
mission and respond to regulatory and statutory requirements. 
Information collection requests can include grant and financial aid 
applications, performance reports, studies, and statistical information 
that promote transparency and advances the field. The Department is now 
examining existing data collections to ensure that they generate 
benefits to students, families, educators, institutions, and the public 
that are commensurate with the effort involved with providing the 
information. To inform this work, the Department is soliciting public 
input to (1) better understand how specific ICRs may impose unnecessary 
burdens on State, local, territorial, and Tribal governments, 
educational institutions, nonprofits, and individuals, and (2) collect 
suggestions for improving ICRs to reduce burden while balancing the 
important purpose of the collections. This effort will support the 
Department in addressing requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(Pub. L. 104-13), including but not limited to minimizing paperwork 
burden on the public and ensuring the greatest public benefit from 
information created, collected, maintained, used, shared, and 
disseminated by or for the Federal Government. It will also inform the 
Department's work to address priorities outlined in Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum M22-10 ``Improving Access to 
Public Benefits Programs Through the Paperwork Reduction Act,'' which 
provides guidance for Federal agencies on (1) more completely and 
transparently articulating burdens and associated costs experienced by 
the public when accessing essential public benefits programs, and (2) 
using an analysis of the submissions to ``minimize the Federal 
information collection burden, with particular emphasis on those 
individuals and entities most adversely affected.''

Request For Public Input

A. Importance of Public Feedback

    To achieve the objectives outlined in this document, it is critical 
that public input informs improvements in strategies, processes, and 
planning. The Department's ICRs affect many different individuals and 
entities, all of whom are likely to have useful information, data, and 
perspectives on the benefits and burdens of our existing processes. 
Given that unique knowledge, public feedback will play a significant 
role in improving the information collection process.

B. Maximizing the Value of Public Feedback

    This notice contains a list of questions, the answers to which will 
assist the Department in identifying potential information collection 
processes and burdens that may benefit from review. The goals of this 
request are to reduce burdens on the affected groups, saving costs and 
time for both the affected groups and the Government while maintaining 
the critical purposes of the collections, increasing navigability, 
reducing redundancy, promoting simplification, improving efficiency, 
and removing barriers that unnecessarily impede access to resources. 
The Department encourages public comment on these questions and seeks 
any other information or data relevant to this notice. Public feedback 
that simply states that a stakeholder feels strongly that the 
Department should change its processes regarding information 
collections may not be as useful as feedback that contains specific 
information on changes that should be considered, or how a proposed 
change may reduce burden or otherwise improve existing submission 
processes.
    Commenters should consider the principles below as they provide 
feedback on this notice:
     If a comment is about a specific OMB approved information 
collection, identify the collection by providing the OMB number, which 
can typically be found on the first page of a form or in the burden 
statement, and any data elements. You can also find this information in 
reginfo.gov under current inventory for the Department of Education. 
The links to individual ICRs can be obtained from that list.
     Explain why you recommend that a form, information 
collection, or submission process be modified or streamlined.
     To the extent feasible, illustrate the costs and time, 
burdens, and your perspective on the utility of respective collections 
and how proposed changes could reduce costs and burdens or increase the 
utility to the Department or the public.
     Focus on processes considered burdensome that have been in 
effect for enough time to warrant a fair evaluation (i.e., at least a 
year, in most cases).

C. Questions for Commenters

    The non-exhaustive list of questions below is meant to assist 
members of the public in formulating comments and is not intended to 
restrict the feedback that members of the public may provide:
    (1) Do some Department information collections or processes place a 
more significant burden on certain types of respondents, particularly 
individuals and entities that could be more adversely affected? If so, 
what impact could this have on these respondents in accessing public 
benefits?
    (2) Do some Department information collection requests contain 
questions that the commenter might perceive as having limited value or 
utility? If so, please identify specific data elements when 
recommending burden reduction solutions.
    (3) Do some Department information collections request duplicative 
information? If so, please recommend solutions (for example, 
eliminating duplicative questions in a specific collection or 
consolidating multiple collections)?

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    (4) What data-linkage or data-sharing activities can the Department 
engage in to reduce the burden of information collections?
    (5) The Department recognizes that burden can be reduced by 
improving the usability of forms. How might the Department reduce 
burden by improving the usability of forms, independent of eliminating 
data collections or data elements?
    (6) What additional feedback would you like to share regarding 
challenges, barriers, or suggested improvements for obtaining benefits 
from the Department?

Review of Public Feedback

    The Department will use the public's feedback to inform an action 
plan for reducing burden, pursuant to OMB's memorandum. The Department 
will also use the public's feedback to consider reduction of 
administrative burdens more broadly. This notice is issued solely for 
information and program-planning purposes. Public input provided in 
response to this notice does not bind the Department to any further 
actions, including publishing a formal response or agreeing to initiate 
a recommended change. The Department will consider the feedback and 
make changes or improvements at its sole discretion.
    Accessible Format: On request to the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities can obtain 
this document in an accessible format. The Department will provide the 
requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich Text Format 
(RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, braille, large 
print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Roberto J. Rodriguez,
Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.
[FR Doc. 2023-14888 Filed 7-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P