[Federal Register: November 3, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 214)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 66200-66202]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03no00-16]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Parts 75 and 350
Direct Grant Programs and Disability and Rehabilitation Research
Projects and Centers Program
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to amend the Education Department
General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) and the regulations for the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
The proposed amendments to EDGAR would revise the general selection
criteria concerning project design, services, and personnel available
for use in direct grant programs. Consistent with the requirements of
section 427 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), these
amendments would focus on ensuring that discretionary grant applicants
demonstrate in their applications the steps they will take to ensure
equitable access to, and participation in, their federally assisted
programs by members of traditionally underrepresented groups. The
proposed amendment to the criterion on quality of project personnel
also would add a mandatory factor measuring the extent to which the
application includes effective strategies for employing and advancing
in employment qualified individuals with disabilities in the proposed
project, including the accessibility of the project's worksite and
equipment to these individuals. The Secretary also proposes to include
the latter amendment concerning project personnel in the regulations
providing selection criteria for certain programs administered by the
NIDRR.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before January 2, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about these proposed regulations to
Julius C. Cotton, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue,
SW., room 3652, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202-4248. If you prefer to send
your comments through the Internet, use the following address:
comments@ed.gov.
You must include the term ``proposed selection criteria'' in the
subject line of your electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julius C. Cotton. Telephone: (202)
708-8562. 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 person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation To Comment
We invite you to submit comments regarding these proposed
regulations and the potential effect of the use of the proposed
selection criteria in direct grant programs supported by the
Department.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Order 12866 and its overall requirement of
reducing regulatory burden that might result from these proposed
regulations. Please let us know of any further opportunities we should
take to reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while
preserving the effective and efficient administration of the
Department's direct grant programs.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about these proposed regulations in room 3652, ROB-3, Seventh
& D Streets, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and
4:00 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 that needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for these proposed regulations. 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
The Department of Education's mission is to ensure equal access to
education and promote educational excellence throughout the nation. To
ensure that these goals are being met in Department-funded
discretionary grant programs, we are proposing several changes to the
list of general selection criteria and factors in EDGAR. These EDGAR
criteria and factors are used by most programs of the Department. Many
programs do not have separate criteria and rely entirely on EDGAR
criteria. Other programs have separate regulatory criteria. EDGAR
authorizes the programs with separate criteria to use program criteria
(and statutory criteria) in conjunction with the EDGAR criteria to
evaluate applications. As a result, these amendments would affect most
programs of the Department. We propose to amend the NIDRR regulations
which do not incorporate the EDGAR provision that permits the use of
both EDGAR and program criteria.
The proposed changes stem from two related departmental efforts
that have the common goal of ensuring equity and excellence in
Department-funded grant projects. The first effort relates to current
requirements found in section 427 of the General Education Provisions
Act (GEPA) (20 U.S.C. 1228a), which was enacted by Congress in 1994.
Section 427 of GEPA requires that each applicant for a Department grant
include in its application a description of the steps the applicant
proposes to take to ensure equitable access to, and participation in,
its federally assisted programs for students, teachers, and other
program beneficiaries with special needs by addressing barriers to that
access and participation, including barriers based on gender, race,
national origin, color, disability, or age. The Secretary is prepared
to provide technical assistance to applicants in connection with
meeting the
[[Page 66201]]
requirements of section 427 of GEPA and with the selection criteria in
this notice of proposed rulemaking.
Although grant applicants currently provide statements in their
applications indicating how they will ensure equitable access and
participation, we believe that greater emphasis should be placed on how
well the applicants address the GEPA 427 requirements. Under the
proposed changes, discretionary grant applicants for programs using the
EDGAR list of selection criteria would be rated based on the extent to
which their grant applications include an effective project design and
project services for ensuring equitable access and participation. These
factors also would be amended to more closely track the language in
section 427 of GEPA. They would be mandatory factors under their
respective criteria.
The second effort involves a similar concern relating to the
diversity of project staff who carry out funded projects. Current
provisions in EDGAR include--under the criterion for project
personnel--a mandatory factor for considering the extent to which the
applicant encourages applications for employment from persons who are
members of groups that have been traditionally underrepresented. The
Secretary is concerned that inadequate attention has been given by many
grantees to the employment and advancement of individuals with
disabilities. Therefore, this proposal would strengthen these current
provisions as they relate to employment and advancement of these
individuals and to the provision of accessible worksites and equipment
for persons with disabilities. Section 606 of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires the Secretary to ensure that
each recipient of assistance under IDEA makes positive efforts to
employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with
disabilities. We believe that--in promoting excellence and equity in
Department-funded projects--this is an appropriate factor to be
evaluated in making competitive selections not only under IDEA, but
also in other Department programs. Therefore--under the Secretary's
general rulemaking authority--we are proposing that the existing
criterion on quality of project personnel be amended to add a factor
that focuses specifically on individuals with disabilities, consistent
with the provisions in section 606 of the IDEA.
For Department programs using the revised EDGAR criterion on
quality of project personnel, applicants would be rated on how well
their application demonstrates effective strategies for employing and
advancing in employment qualified individuals with disabilities in the
proposed project. These strategies also include those for the provision
of accessible worksites and equipment. In applying this criterion, the
Secretary, as appropriate, would also consider the applicant's past
success in employing and advancing in employment individuals with
disabilities. The latter consideration would be inappropriate, for
example, for a newly formed private, nonprofit organization.
Within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
NIDRR supports specialized disability-related activities and uses
selection criteria found in 34 CFR part 350 rather than the general
EDGAR selection criteria. A similar factor is proposed for addition to
part 350 to be used in administering NIDRR programs.
Executive Order 12866
Clarity of the Regulations
Executive Order 12866 and the President's Memorandum of June 1,
1998, on ``Plain Language in Government Writing'' require each agency
to write regulations that are easy to understand.
The Secretary invites comments on how to make these proposed
regulations easier to understand, including answers to questions such
as the following:
Are the requirements in the proposed regulations clearly
stated?
Do the proposed regulations contain technical terms or
other wording that interferes with their clarity?
Does the format of the proposed regulations (grouping and
order of sections, use of headings, paragraphing, etc.) aid or reduce
their clarity?
Would the proposed regulations be easier to understand if
we divided them into more (but shorter) sections? (A ``section'' is
preceded by the symbol ``Sec. '' and a numbered heading; for example,
Sec. 75.210 General selection criteria.)
Could the description of the proposed regulations in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this preamble be more helpful in
making the proposed regulations easier to understand? If so, how?
What else could we do to make the proposed regulations
easier to understand?
Send any comments that concern how the Department could make these
proposed regulations easier to understand to the person listed in the
ADDRESSES section of the preamble.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that these proposed regulations would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. The small entities affected would be applicants for the
Department's direct grant programs. The proposed regulations would not
have a significant economic impact on any small entities but are
expected to benefit all applicants by reducing delays in the grant
award process that otherwise would be caused by rulemaking necessary to
establish special selection criteria for individual competitions.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
These proposed regulations do not contain any information
collection requirements.
Intergovernmental Review
Some of the programs that are affected by these regulations are
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 these programs.
Assessment of Educational Impact
The Secretary particularly requests comments on whether these
proposed regulations would require transmission of information that any
other agency or authority of the United States gathers or makes
available.
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 either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free
at either of the previous sites. 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
[[Page 66202]]
Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.133 for Disability
and Rehabilitation Research: General Provisions)
List of Subjects
34 CFR Part 75
Accounting, Administrative practice and procedure, Grant programs--
education, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
34 CFR Part 350
Administrative practice and procedure, Eligibility, Grant
administration.
Dated: October 26, 2000.
Richard W. Riley,
Secretary of Education.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Secretary proposes
to amend parts 75 and 350 of title 34 of the Code of Federal
Regulations as follows:
PART 75--DIRECT GRANT PROGRAMS
1. The authority citation for part 75 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3 and 3474, unless otherwise noted.
2. Section 75.210 is amended as follows:
a. By revising the undesignated introductory text;
b. Redesignating paragraph (c)(2) as (c)(3);
c. Adding a new paragraph (c)(2);
d. Revising newly redesignated paragraph (c)(3) introductory text;
and
e. Revising paragraphs (d)(2) and (e)(2).
The revisions and addition read as follows:
Sec. 75.210 General selection criteria.
In determining the selection criteria to be used in each grant
competition, the Secretary may select one or more of the following
criteria and may select from among the list of optional factors under
each criterion. However, paragraphs (c)(2), (d)(2), and (e)(2) of this
section are mandatory factors under their respective criteria:
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(2) In determining the quality of the design of the proposed
project, the Secretary considers the extent to which the application
proposes effective steps to eliminate barriers that may impede
equitable access or participation by groups that have been
traditionally underrepresented based on race, color, national origin,
gender, age, or disability.
(3) In addition to paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the Secretary
also considers one or more of the following factors:
* * * * *
(d) * * *
(2) In determining the quality of the services to be provided by
the proposed project, the Secretary considers the quality and
effectiveness of the applicant's strategies for ensuring equal access
and treatment for eligible project participants who are members of
groups that have been traditionally underrepresented based on race,
color, national origin, gender, age, or disability, including its steps
to overcome barriers to equitable participation by those eligible
participants.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
(2)(i) In determining the quality of project personnel--
(A) The Secretary considers the extent to which the applicant
encourages applications for employment from persons who are members of
groups that have been traditionally underrepresented based on race,
color, national origin, gender, or age; and
(B) The Secretary considers the extent to which an application
includes effective strategies for employing and advancing in employment
qualified individuals with disabilities in the proposed project,
including the accessibility of the project's worksite and equipment to
these individuals.
(ii) In determining the effectiveness of the strategies under
paragraph (e)(2)(i)(B) of this section, the Secretary, as appropriate,
considers the applicant's success, as described in the application, in
employing and advancing in employment qualified individuals with
disabilities.
* * * * *
PART 350--DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH PROJECTS AND
CENTERS PROGRAM
3. The authority citation for part 350 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: Sec. 204; 29 U.S.C. 761-762, unless otherwise noted.
4. Section 350.54 is amended by revising paragraph (n)(2) to read
as follows:
Sec. 350.54 What selection criteria does the Secretary use in
evaluating an application?
* * * * *
(n) * * *
(2)(i) In determining the quality of project staff--
(A) The Secretary considers the extent to which an applicant
encourages applications for employment from persons who are members of
groups that have been traditionally underrepresented based on race,
color, national origin, gender, or age; and
(B) The Secretary considers the extent to which an application
includes effective strategies for employing and advancing in employment
qualified individuals with disabilities in the proposed project,
including the accessibility of the project's worksite and equipment to
these individuals.
(ii) In determining the effectiveness of the strategies under
paragraph (n)(2)(i)(B) of this section, the Secretary, as appropriate,
considers the applicant's success, as described in the application, in
employing and advancing in employment qualified individuals with
disabilities.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-27991 Filed 11-2-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P