[Federal Register: January 12, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 7)]
[Notices]
[Page 2109-2111]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12ja99-127]
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Part VIII
Department of Education
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Magnet Schools Assistance--Innovative Programs; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No.: 84.165B]
Magnet Schools Assistance--Innovative Programs
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year
(FY) 1999.
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Purpose of Programs: To award grants to local educational agencies
(LEAs) or consortia of LEAs to enable them to conduct innovative
programs that will assist in the desegregation of schools served by the
LEA or LEAs.
Eligible Applicants: An LEA or consortium of LEAs that (1) is
implementing a plan undertaken pursuant to a final order issued by a
court of the United States, a court of any State, or any other State
agency or official of competent jurisdiction that requires the
desegregation of minority-group segregated children or faculty in
elementary and secondary schools of that agency; or (2) has voluntarily
adopted and is implementing, or, if assistance is made available under
the Innovative Programs section of the Magnet Schools Assistance (MSA)
statute, will voluntarily implement the plan that has been approved by
the Secretary of Education as adequate under Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.
Deadline Date for Transmittal of Applications: February 26, 1999.
Deadline Date for Intergovernmental Review: April 28, 1999.
Applications Available: January 12, 1998.
Available Funds: $5,100,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $250,000-$500,000.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $360,000.
Estimated Number of Awards: 14.
Note: 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 75, 77, 79, 80, 81,
82, 85, and 86.
Priority
While applicants may propose any project within the scope of
section 5111 of the (MSA) statute, pursuant to 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) the
Secretary is particularly interested in applications that meet one or
more of the following invitational priorities. However, an application
that meets one or more of the invitational priorities does not receive
competitive or absolute preference over other applications.
Invitational Priority 1
Elementary school projects that foster meaningful interaction among
students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, beginning at the
earliest stage of the students' education, through the use of
strategies such as work-site schools, interdistrict programs,
partnerships with community-based organizations, or other strategies
(other than magnet schools).
Invitational Priority 2
Secondary school projects that ensure that all students have
equitable access to quality education that will prepare them to
function well in a culturally diverse, technologically oriented and
highly competitive global community, through the use of strategies such
as interdistrict programs, partnerships with businesses, institutions
of higher education or community-based organizations, innovative urban
secondary school programs, or other strategies (other than magnet
schools).
General Requirements
Innovative Programs are authorized under the MSA statute. However,
while these programs must carry out the purpose of the MSA statute,
(e.g., assist in the reduction, elimination or prevention of minority
group isolation), Innovative Programs must involve strategies other
than magnet schools, such as neighborhood or community model schools.
In addition, they must be organized around a special emphasis, theme,
or concept and involve extensive parent and community involvement.
In order to be eligible for an Innovative Programs grant, an LEA or
consortium of LEAs must be implementing a required desegregation plan
or have adopted and implemented (or agreed to implement if assistance
is made available under the MSA statute) a voluntary desegregation
plan. In addition to the particular data and other items for required
and voluntary plans, described separately in the information that
follows, an application must include:
Signed assurances (included in the application package);
A copy of the applicant's plan; and
An assurance that the plan is being implemented or will be
implemented if the application is funded.
Required Plans
1. Plans Required by a Court Order:
An applicant that submits a plan required by a court must submit
complete and signed copies of the plan.
2. Plans Required by a State Agency or Official of Competent
Jurisdiction:
An applicant submitting a plan ordered by a State agency or
official of competent jurisdiction must provide documentation that
shows that the plan was ordered based upon a determination that State
law was violated. In the absence of this documentation, the applicant
should consider its plan to be a voluntary plan and submit the data and
information necessary for voluntary plans.
3. Title VI Required Plans:
An applicant that submits a plan required by the Office of Civil
Rights under Title VI must submit a complete copy of the plan.
Voluntary Plans
A voluntary plan must be approved each time an application is
submitted for funding. Even if ED has approved a voluntary plan in an
LEA in the past, the plan must be resubmitted to ED for approval as
part of the application.
An applicant submitting a voluntary plan must include in its
application a copy of a school board resolution or other evidence of
final official action adopting and implementing the plan, or agreeing
to adopt and implement the plan upon the award of assistance.
Narrow Tailoring
The purposes of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program include the
reduction, elimination or prevention of minority group isolation. In
many instances, in order to carry out these purposes, districts take
race into account in assigning students to schools. In order to meet
the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, applicants
submitting voluntary plans that involve the use of race in decision
making must ensure that the use of race satisfies strict scrutiny. That
is, the use of race must be narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling
interest in reducing, eliminating, or preventing minority group
isolation.
In order for the Department to make a determination that a
voluntary plan involving a racial classification is adequate under
Title VI the plan must be narrowly tailored. Among the considerations
that affect a determination of whether the use of race in a voluntary
plan is narrowly tailored are (1) whether the district tried or
seriously considered race-neutral alternatives and determined that the
measures have not been or would not be similarly effective, before
resorting to race-conscious action; (2) the scope and flexibility of
the use of race, including
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whether it is subject to a waiver; (3) the manner in which race is
used, that is, whether race determines eligibility for a program or
whether race is just one factor in the decision making process; (4) the
duration of the use of race and whether it is subject to periodic
review; and (5) the degree and type of burden imposed on students of
other races.
Each of the considerations set out above should be specifically
considered in framing a district's strategy. Some examples follow,
although it must be recognized that the legal standards in this area
are developing.
Race-neutral
Before resorting to race-conscious action, school districts must
try or seriously consider race-neutral alternatives and determine that
they have not been or would not be similarly effective. For example, it
may be possible to broaden the appeal of a given school by aggressively
publicizing it, making application to it as easy as possible, and
broadening the geographic area from which the school is intended to
draw.
Use of Racial Criteria in Admissions
It may be permissible to establish a procedure whereby race is
taken into account in admissions only if race-neutral steps are
considered and a determination is made that they would not prove
similarly effective. Racial caps are the most difficult use of race to
justify under a narrow tailoring analysis.
The decision to consider race in admission decisions should be made
on a school-by-school basis.
Scope and Flexibility
Over time, the enrollment at a school may become stable and the
school may attract a diverse group of students. At this point, use of
race as a factor in admissions may no longer be necessary.
In some instances, exceptions to the use of race in admissions--
where a relatively small number of students are adversely affected and
their admission will not substantially affect the racial composition of
the program--should be available.
Duration of the Program and Reexamination of the Use of Criteria
The school or school district should formally review the steps it
has taken which involve the use of race on a regular basis, such as on
an annual basis, to determine whether the use of race is still needed,
or should be modified.
Effect on Students of Other Races
Where there are a number of schools involved in the voluntary plan,
it may also be possible to assign students to a comparable school, if
they are unable to gain admission to their first preference.
Innovative Programs are exempt from certain provisions of the MSA
statute, including section 5103 (Program Authorized), section 5106
(Applications and Requirements), section 5107 (Priority), and section
5108 (Use of Funds). Other MSA statute requirements apply to
applications submitted under Innovative Programs. For example, under
section 5109, grants may not be used for transportation or any activity
that does not augment academic improvement and under section 5110, a
grantee may not expend more than 50 percent of the funds received for
the first year of the project for planning, not more than 15 percent of
grant funds for the second year, and not more than 10 percent of the
grant funds for the third year.
Selection Criteria:
The selection criteria are included in full in the application
package for this competition. These selection criteria were established
based on the regulations for evaluating discretionary grants found in
34 CFR 75.200 through 75.210.
FOR APPLICATIONS OR INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven L. Brockhouse, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 3E112,
Washington, DC 20202-6140. Telephone (202) 260-2476. Individuals who
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8
p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request of the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternate format, also, by contacting that person.
However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternate format
the standard forms included in the application package.
Electronic Access to This Document
Anyone may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or
portable document format (pdf) on the World Wide Web at either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the pdf you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the pdf, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office toll free at 1-888-293-6498.
Anyone may also view these documents in text copy only on an
electronic bulletin board of the Department. Telephone: (202) 219-1511
or, toll free, 1-800-222-4922. The documents are located under Option
G--Files/Announcements, Bulletins and Press Releases.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C.7211.
Dated: January 7, 1999.
Gerald N. Tirozzi,
Assistant Secretary, Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-662 Filed 1-11-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P