[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 137 (Monday, July 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41836-41838]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-17580]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Waiver and Extension of Project Period
AGENCY: Office of Innovation and Improvement.
ACTION: Notice of waiver and extension of project period.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary waives the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2)
of the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR),
as they apply to projects funded under the DC School Choice Incentive
Program (DC Choice program). This regulation generally prohibits any
project period extensions involving the obligation of additional
Federal funds. A waiver of this regulation would allow the one-year
grant funded with fiscal year (FY) 2009 funds under the DC Choice
Program to be continued beyond its original project period with FY 2010
funds. Additionally, this grantee will be able to receive additional
Federal funds notwithstanding the limitation in 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2)
that prohibits extension of a project period if it involves the
obligation of additional Federal funds.
DATES: This waiver and extension of project period are effective August
18, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna Hinton, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 4W229, Washington, DC 20202.
Telephone: (202) 260-1816 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 under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The DC Choice program, established under the DC School Choice
Incentive Act of 2003 (Act), provides low-income parents residing in
the District of Columbia (District) with an option to send their
children to private schools. In FY 2009, the Department awarded a one-
year competitive grant to an applicant to provide scholarships, for the
2009-2010 school year, to students who received them in the 2008-2009
school year. The notice inviting applications for new awards for the FY
2009 DC Choice Program grant competition was published in the Federal
Register on July 6, 2009 (74 FR 31935).
Under the absolute priority established in that notice, funds
awarded under the FY 2009 competition were permitted to be used only to
award scholarships to students already participating in this program
prior to FY 2009.\1\ The absolute priority was established to align
with the instructions of Congress included in the Joint Explanatory
Statement accompanying Public Law 111-8, the Omnibus Appropriations
Act, 2009, that the Department use FY 2009 funds only to provide
scholarships to currently enrolled program participants and not to
enroll new participants. Further, the FY 2010 Appropriations Act
provides that FY 2010 and prior-year funds may be used to provide
scholarships in the 2010-2011 school year only to students who received
scholarships in the 2009-2010 school year.
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\1\ Funds are also permitted to be used for administrative and
evaluation expenses.
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Waiver of 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2)
We are waiving the provisions of 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2) so that the
current grantee may continue to receive additional funds to serve
beyond the
[[Page 41837]]
2009-2010 school year students who are currently participating in the
program. We are taking this action because we do not believe it would
be in the public interest to hold a new competition under the DC Choice
program for FY 2010 (and through FY 2011 provided that additional funds
are appropriated under the DC Choice program) to serve these students
through the time they graduate from high school.\2\ With the
uncertainties presented by the absence of a future authority for this
program, it would not be advisable to hold a competition for a project
that would likely operate for only a short period of time, and serve a
limited population. The grantee that received the award in the FY 2009
competition, Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF), has recently
transferred the administration of the grant to the current grantee, the
DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. WSF could not
continue to administer the DC Choice Program beyond the 2009-2010
school year because it was unable to obtain the additional funding
commitments necessary to serve the participating families and fulfill
school oversight responsibilities. In order to receive this grant, the
DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation was required to
submit to the Department for review, as part of the grant transfer
agreement, a proposal that addressed the absolute priority and each
selection criterion included in the original notice inviting
applications for new awards for the FY 2009 DC Choice program grant
competition published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2009 (74 FR
31935). The current grantee will request the FY 2010 continuation
award.
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\2\ The President's 2011 budget requests funding for the program
but states, ``it is expected that this will be the final request for
Federal funding to support the DC Opportunity Scholarship program,''
and permits the use of funds appropriated in prior years for future
school years until the current cohort participating in the program
graduates.
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Therefore, the Secretary is waiving the requirements in 34 CFR
75.261(c)(2), which limit the extension of a project period if the
extension involves the obligation of additional Federal funds. With
this waiver, we will not announce a new competition or make a new award
under the DC Choice program in FY 2010. Rather, the requirements
applicable to continuation awards for the current DC Choice grantee in
34 CFR 75.253 will apply to any continuation awards sought by the
grantee.
The waiver of 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2) does not exempt the current DC
Choice grantee from the account-closing provisions of 31 U.S.C.
1552(a), nor does it extend the availability of funds previously
awarded to the current grantee. As a result of 31 U.S.C. 1552(a),
appropriations available for a limited period may be used for payment
of valid obligations for only five years after the expiration of their
period of availability for Federal obligation. After that time, the
unexpended balance of those funds is canceled and returned to the U.S.
Treasury Department and is unavailable for restoration for any purpose.
Waiver of Rulemaking
Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) (APA) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed regulations, including proposed waivers of its
regulation in 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2). However, we are waiving the notice-
and-comment requirements of the APA for this waiver because it would be
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to delay the award of
FY 2010 funds until after soliciting notice and comment on the waiver
of this regulation. In order for current scholarship students to
receive scholarships for the next school year, 2010-2011, the grantee
must take a number of actions within the next 30 to 45 days, including
verifying the eligibility of students' families for scholarships and
verifying school eligibility for program participation. More
specifically, the students must be determined to be eligible and
enrolled in the participating schools for the upcoming school year as
soon as possible. If current scholarship students are not enrolled
soon, school leaders will not have the enrollment figures that are
required to hire the appropriate number of teachers. These schools,
therefore, would not have the resources to serve current scholarship
students who attempt to enroll when the schools reopen in September
2010. In addition, a school will not enroll a current scholarship
student whose eligibility for the program has not been verified.
Enrolling a student who is later identified as ineligible would cause
substantial financial duress for the school, and it would be
detrimental to the student's education if the student is required to
transfer to a new school once the school year has begun. For these
reasons, it is imperative that the eligibility determinations begin
immediately. Conducting notice and comment rulemaking would not allow
the grantee or the schools to complete this work in the next 30 to 45
days. Accordingly, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), the Secretary has
determined that notice and comment on the waiver is unnecessary and
contrary to the public interest.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that this waiver will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The small entity that will be affected by this waiver is the FY
2009 grantee, the non-profit organization currently receiving Federal
funds under the DC Choice program. The waiver will not have a
significant economic impact on this entity because the waiver and the
activities required to support the additional year(s) of funding will
not impose excessive regulatory burdens or require unnecessary Federal
supervision. The waiver will impose minimal requirements to ensure the
proper expenditure of program funds, including requirements that are
standard for continuation awards.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of waiver does not contain any information collection
requirements.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR 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.
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://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister/index.html.
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: 84.370ADC School
Choice Incentive Program)
Program Authority: Consolidated Appropriations Act 2010, Pub. L.
No. 111-117; DC Code Sec. Sec. 38-1851.01-38-1851.11.
[[Page 41838]]
Dated: July 14, 2010.
James H. Shelton III,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 2010-17580 Filed 7-16-10; 8:45 am]
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