[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 20, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21441-21442]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08969]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter III
[ED-2025-OESE-0021]
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period With Funding
for Arts in Education National Program
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Department
of Education.
ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of project period with funding.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally
prohibit project period extensions involving the obligation of
additional Federal funds. The proposed waiver and extension would
enable one project under Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.351A to
receive funding for one additional period, not to exceed September 30,
2026.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 20, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at www.regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation
or cannot otherwise submit your comments via www.regulations.gov,
please contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments submitted
after the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition, please
include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under
``FAQ.''
Privacy Note: OESE's policy is generally to make comments received
from members of the public available for public viewing in their
entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov.
Therefore, commenters should include in their comments only information
about themselves that they wish to make publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Simon Earle, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-5076.
Telephone: (202) 453-7923. Email: [email protected].
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:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
this proposed waiver and extension. To ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in developing the notice of final waiver and extension,
we urge you to identify clearly the specific grantee or grantees
(listed in the table under the Background section) that each comment
addresses.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14192 and their
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result
from the proposed waiver and extension. Please let us know of any
further ways we could 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 public
comments about the proposed priority and definition by accessing
Regulations.gov.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for the proposed waiver and extension. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or
auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended
(ESEA) authorizes awards under the Assistance for Arts Education (AAE)
to promote arts education for students, including disadvantaged
students and students who are children with disabilities. In FY 2021,
the Department offered the AAE program as one grant program. In prior
years, the Department held three separate grant competitions under
section 4642 of the ESEA: Arts in Education Development and
Dissemination, Professional Development for Arts Educators, and Arts in
Education National Program (AENP).
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 directed the Department
``to carry out a separate competition for eligible national nonprofit
organizations, as described in the Applications for New Awards;
Assistance for Arts Education Program--Arts in Education National
Program published in the Federal Register on May 7, 2018 (83 FR 20056),
for activities described under section 4642(a)(1)(C)'' of the ESEA. In
addition, the Explanatory Statement for Division H of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103) (2022 Appropriations
Explanatory Statement) included language directing the Department ``to
award prior experience points to applicants that have conducted an Arts
in Education National Program project during budget periods 2018-19,
2019-20, and 2020-21.''
The explanatory statements accompanying the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2023 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024
similarly directed the Department to use funds for AAE ``. . . for
continuation grants for eligible national nonprofit organizations, as
described in the Applications for New Awards; Assistance for Arts
Education Program published in the Federal Register on May 31, 2022,
for activities described under section 4642(a)(1)(C).'' The Full-Year
Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 provided continuing
appropriations for FY 2025 under the same requirements, authorities,
conditions, limitations, and other provisions applicable to the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. Thus, the Department is directed
to provide a continuation grant for the AENP grantee first awarded in
FY 2022.
In FY 2022 the Department made one 36-month award under the AENP as
follows:
[[Page 21442]]
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FY 2022 award under ALN 84.351A Grantee project name/topic area
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S351A220007....................... John F Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts: Kennedy Center
National Arts Education Program.
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The current project period for this grantee ends on September 30,
2025.
Waivers and Extensions: The Department proposes to extend the
project end date of the current FY 2022 84.351A AENP grant by one year
to comply with the directive in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations
and Extensions Act, 2025 and align with the dates of the AAE awards
funded in FY 2021 under ALN 84.351A, which are scheduled to receive
their final year of funding in FY 2025, and end on September 30, 2026.
As a result, for this project, the Secretary proposes to waive the
requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (b)(2), which allow the extension
of a project period only if the extension does not involve the
obligation of additional Federal funds. The waiver will allow the
Department to issue a continuation award in FY 2025, as directed by
Congress to the currently funded 84.351A AENP project at an amount
consistent with the amount awarded in FY 2024.
Any activities carried out during the year of this continuation
award must be consistent with, or a logical extension of, the scope,
goals, and objectives of the grantee's application as approved in the
FY 2022 competition. The requirements for continuation awards are set
forth in 34 CFR 75.253.
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.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The only entity that would be
affected by the proposed waiver and extension of the project period is
the current AENP grantee.
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension
would not have a significant economic impact on this entity, because
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require
unnecessary Federal supervision.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period
does not contain any information collection requirements.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact 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.
Hayley B. Sanon,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary,
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2025-08969 Filed 5-19-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P