Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services;Notice of proposed extension of project period and waiver [OSERS]

FR Doc 03-2193
[Federal Register: January 30, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 20)]
[Notices]
[Page 4768-4769]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30ja03-53]

Download:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed extension of project period and waiver.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), at 34 CFR 75.250
and 75.261(a), that generally prohibit project periods exceeding 5
years and project extensions involving the obligation of additional
Federal funds to enable the Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent
Centers to receive funding from April 1, 2003, until September 30,
2003.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before March 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this proposal to Debra
Sturdivant or Donna Fluke, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW., Room 3527, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2641. If
you prefer to send your comments through the Internet, use the
following address: Debra.Sturdivant@ed.gov or Donna.Fluke@ed.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Debra Sturdivant, Telephone: (202)
205-8038, or Donna Fluke, Telephone: (202) 205-9161.
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, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact persons listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment

We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed extension
of project period and waiver.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this extension of project period and waiver in Room
3414, Switzer Building, 330 C Street, SW., Washington, DC, between the
hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., eastern time, Monday through Friday of
each week except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking
Record

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 or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for this proposed extension of project period and
waiver. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid,
you may call (202) 205-8113 or (202) 260-9895. If you use a TDD, you
may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

Background

On July 29, 2002, we published in the Federal Register (67 FR
49014-49015) a notice of extension of project period and waiver. In
this notice we announced that the Secretary intends to redesign the
technical assistance component of the Training and Information for
Parents of Children with Disabilities program and provide funding in
fiscal year 2003. The notice of waiver and extension of project period
was issued to enable the current technical assistance provider, the
Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent Centers Project to receive
funding from October 1, 2002, until March 31, 2003. The grant for the
ALLIANCE expired, after a 5-year project period, on September 30, 2002.
Technical assistance is provided on an ongoing basis to parent
centers, and it would be contrary to the public interest to have any
service lapses for the parent centers being served by the current
grantee.

Reasons

We have determined that an additional period of time is needed for
redesigning the technical assistance component. To avoid any lapse in
service for the intended beneficiaries before the redesigned technical
assistance component can be fully implemented, the Secretary proposes
to fund this project until September 30, 2003. However, to do so, the
Secretary must waive the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250 and
75.261(c)(2), which prohibit project periods exceeding 5 years and
period extensions that involve the obligation of additional Federal
funds. We are proposing a waiver at this time in order to give the
affected grantee early notice of the availability of an additional six
months of funding.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial

[[Page 4769]]

number of small entities. The only small entity that would be affected
is the PACER Center, Inc., which operates the Technical Assistance
ALLIANCE for Parent Centers project.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This extension and waiver does not contain any information
collection requirements.

Intergovernmental Review

This program is subject to the requirements of 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.

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. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

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.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.328, Training and
Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities.)

Dated: January 27, 2003.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 03-2193 Filed 1-29-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000-01-P