[Federal Register: July 7, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 129)]
[Notices]
[Page 40256-40257]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07jy03-65]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No.: 84.362A]
Native Hawaiian Education Program
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year
(FY) 2003.
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Purpose of the Program: The purpose of the Native Hawaiian
Education program, authorized under Part B of Title VII of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. 107-110, is to support
innovative projects that provide supplemental services that address the
educational needs of Native Hawaiian children and adults.
Eligible Applicants: Native Hawaiian educational organizations;
Native-Hawaiian community-based organizations; and public and private
nonprofit organizations, agencies, and institutions with experience in
developing or operating Native Hawaiian programs or programs of
instructions in the Native Hawaiian language; or consortia thereof.
Applications Available: July 7, 2003.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: August 6, 2003.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 5, 2003.
Estimated Available Funds: $13 million. Of this amount, we will
award approximately $5.1 million under absolute priority 1 (family-
based education centers); approximately $4.5 million under absolute
priority 2 (curriculum and professional development); approximately
$724,000 under absolute priority 3 (gifted and talented); approximately
$1.7 million under absolute priority 4 (community-based learning
centers); approximately $500,000 under absolute priority 5 (early
childhood education) and approximately $500,000 under absolute priority
6 (construction/renovation).
Estimated Number of Awards: 8 under absolute priority 1; 9 under
absolute priority 2; 1 under absolute priority 3; 3 under absolute
priority 4; 1 under absolute priority 5; and 1 under absolute priority
6.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $637,500 under absolute priority
1; $500,000 under absolute priority 2; $724,000 under absolute priority
3; $567,000 under absolute priority 4, $500,000 under absolute priority
5; and $500,000 under absolute priority 6.
Note: These estimates are projections for the guidance of
potential applicants. The Department is not bound by any estimates
in this notice.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
Absolute Priorities: In the conference report accompanying the
Department's FY 2003 Appropriations Act, Congress urged the Department
to support Native Hawaiian education activities in certain specifically
identified areas. In response to the conference report, the Secretary
establishes the following separate absolute priorities under 34 CFR
75.105(c)(3) and will fund under this competition only applicants that
meet one of these priorities:
Absolute Priority 1--Family-Based Education Centers--The applicant
will use the funds received under this competition to support the
operation of a family-based education center that provides such
services as--
(a) Programs for Native Hawaiian parents and their infants from the
prenatal period of the infants through age three;
(b) Preschool programs for Native Hawaiians; and
(c) Research on, and development and assessment of, family-based,
early childhood, and preschool programs for Native Hawaiians.
Absolute Priority 2--Curriculum and Professional Development--The
applicant will use the funds received under this competition to--
(a) Develop academic and vocational curricula to address the needs
of Native Hawaiian children and adults, including curriculum materials
in the Hawaiian language and mathematics and science curricula that
incorporate Native Hawaiian tradition and culture; or
(b) Support professional development activities for educators,
including--
(i) The development of programs to prepare prospective teachers to
address the unique needs of Native Hawaiian students within the context
of Native Hawaiian culture, language, and traditions;
(ii) In-service programs to improve the ability of teachers who
teach in schools with concentrations of Native Hawaiian students to
meet the unique needs of those students; and
(iii) The recruitment and preparation of Native Hawaiians, and
other individuals who live in communities with a high concentration of
Native Hawaiians, to become teachers.
Absolute Priority 3--Gifted and Talented--The applicant will use
the funds received under this competition to support activities that
address the special needs of Native Hawaiian students who are gifted
and talented, including--
(a) Educational, psychological, and developmental activities
designed to assist in the educational progress of those students; and
(b) Activities that involve the parents of those students in a
manner designed to assist in the students' educational progress.
Absolute Priority 4--Community-Based Learning Centers--The
applicant will use the funds received under this competition to support
the operation of a community-based learning center that addresses the
needs of Native Hawaiian families and communities through the
coordination of public and private programs and services, including--
(a) Preschool programs;
(b) After-school programs;
(c) Vocational and adult education programs; and
(d) Programs that recognize and support the unique cultural and
educational needs of Native Hawaiian children and incorporate
appropriately qualified Native Hawaiian elders and seniors.
Absolute Priority 5--Early Childhood Education--The applicant will
use the funds received under this competition for the development and
maintenance of a Native Hawaiian early education and care system to
provide a continuum of services for Native Hawaiian children
[[Page 40257]]
from the prenatal period of the children through age five.
Absolute Priority 6--School Construction and Renovation--The
applicant will use the funds received under this competition for the
construction, renovation and modernization of any elementary school,
secondary school, or structure related to an elementary school or
secondary school, that is run by the Department of Education of the
State of Hawaii and that serves a predominantly Native Hawaiian student
body.
Competitive Preference: The legislation at 20 U.S.C. 7515(a)(2)
establishes specific statutory priorities. In response to these
statutory priorities, the Secretary establishes a competitive
preference under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2) for this competition and will
award an applicant, in addition to any points that an applicant earns
under the selection criteria, five points if it proposes a project that
is designed to address one or more of the following:
(a) Beginning reading and literacy among students in kindergarten
through third grade;
(b) The needs of at-risk children and youth;
(c) Needs in fields or disciplines in which Native Hawaiians are
underemployed; and
(d) The use of the Hawaiian language in instruction.
An applicant that addresses one or more of these areas will receive
a total of five additional points in the competition. If an applicant
addresses more than one of the four areas of this competitive
preference, it will receive a total of five additional competitive
preference points, rather than five points for each of the areas
addressed.
Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: It is the Secretary's practice, in
accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), to
offer interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed rules
that are not taken directly from statute. Ordinarily, this practice
would have applied to the priorities and requirements in this notice.
Section 437(d)(2) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA),
however, exempts from this requirement those rules where it would cause
extreme hardship to the intended beneficiaries of the program that
would be affected by those regulations. In accordance with section
437(d)(2) of GEPA, the Secretary has decided to forgo public comment
with respect to the rules in this grant competition in order to ensure
timely and high-quality awards. These rules will apply only to the FY
2003 grant competition.
For Applications and Information Contact: Mrs. Lynn Thomas, (202)
260-1541, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., FOB6,
Room 3C124, Mail Stop 6140, Washington, DC 20202. The e-mail address
for Mrs. Thomas is: lynn.thomas@ed.gov.
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD)
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 person listed.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format, also, by contacting that person.
However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative
format the standard forms included in the application package.
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/legislation/FedRegister/.
To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have any questions about using PDF, call the
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) at (202) 512-1530 or, toll free,
at 1-888-293-6498.
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.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7515-7517.
Dated: June 30, 2003.
Eugene W. Hickok,
Under Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 03-17000 Filed 7-3-03; 8:45 am]
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