[Federal Register: October 10, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 195)]
[Notices]
[Page 52817-52818]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[[Page 52817]]
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Part IV
Department of Education
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Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965; Notice
[[Page 52818]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of guidance for requesting waivers under part A of title
I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 for schools
under State-ordered or court-ordered desegregation plans.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and
Secondary Education provides guidance to local educational agencies
(LEAs) with schools under a court-ordered or State-ordered
desegregation plan or a plan that continues to be implemented in
accordance with a court-ordered or State-ordered desegregation plan.
This guidance is intended to assist the Secretary in implementing
section 1113(a)(7) of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (Title I). The information obtained enables the Secretary
to waive certain requirements of title I for eligible LEAs.
ADDRESSES: Requests for waivers should be submitted, in writing, to the
Honorable Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of
Education, 600 Independence Avenue SW., room 6300, Attn: Waiver Action
Board, Washington, D.C. 20202-0125.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Jean LeTendre, Director,
Compensatory Education Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education, U.S. Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, S.W.
(Portals Building, room 4400), Washington, D.C. 20202-6132. Telephone
(202) 260-0826. 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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: One of the overarching principles of part A
of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as
recently amended by the Improving America's Schools Act, is to target
resources on those elementary and secondary schools with the highest
concentrations of children from low-income families. As a result,
section 1113(a) of title I requires an LEA to identify its eligible
school attendance areas and schools, rank those areas and schools
according to concentrations of poverty, and serve those areas and
schools in rank order. An eligible area or school is one in which the
percentage of children from low-income families is above the
districtwide poverty average or 35 percent. Under section 1113(c)(1) of
title I, the LEA must allocate funds to participating areas or schools
in rank order on the basis of the total number of children from low-
income families in each area or school.
Section 1113(a)(7) of title I recognizes that a State-ordered or
court-ordered school desegregation plan or a plan that continues to be
implemented in accordance with such a desegregation plan may alter the
concentrations of poverty in schools governed by the plan. To
accommodate this situation, if the number of children from low-income
families in a school under a desegregation plan is at least 25 percent
of the school's total enrollment, the LEA may request the Secretary to
waive the eligibility and allocation requirements in section 1113(a)
and (c) so that the LEA may identify as eligible and serve the school
under title I. The Secretary may grant the LEA's request if the
Secretary determines that approval of the request would further the
purposes of part A of title I.
If an LEA desires a waiver of the requirements in either section
1113(a) or (c) for a school under a State-ordered or court-ordered
school desegregation plan or a plan that continues to be implemented in
accordance with such a desegregation plan, the LEA must submit a
written request to the Secretary. The Secretary encourages the LEA, in
preparing its request, to seek comment from interested parties,
including the State educational agency and private school officials, if
appropriate, and to include the following information in its request so
that the Secretary may determine whether the request meets the
statutory criteria in section 1113(a)(7):
* The school or schools for which the waiver is requested.
* A copy of the LEA's ranking of school attendance areas and
schools, indicating which schools the LEA would fund if the waiver is
granted and which schools the LEA would fund absent a waiver.
* A brief explanation of the LEA's desegregation plan
(indicating the date of the plan and whether it is court-ordered,
State-ordered, or continues to be implemented in accordance with a
court- or State-ordered plan), how the desegregation plan affects the
schools for which the waiver is requested (including, if available, the
plan's impact on the concentrations of poverty in those schools), and
how the plan would be furthered by the waiver.
* An explanation of the educational justification supporting
the waiver request, including measurable educational improvement goals
and expected outcomes for affected students and the methods to be used
to measure progress in meeting those goals and outcomes.
* If the LEA proposes to skip eligible schools in order to
serve schools under a waiver, an explanation of why it would further
the purposes of the title I program to serve the schools for which the
waiver is requested rather than the schools that would be skipped,
including a description of the services to be provided and the number
of children who would benefit.
* If the LEA is requesting a waiver of section 1113(c), the
per-pupil amount the LEA intends to allocate to the schools for which
the waiver is requested and the per-pupil amount(s) the LEA intends to
allocate to its other schools.
* An explanation of how the LEA will continue to ensure the
equitable participation of eligible private school children if the
waiver is granted, including a description of how it consulted with
private school officials in the development of the waiver request.
The Secretary may grant the LEA's request if the Secretary
determines that approval of the request would further the purposes of
part A of title I.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control
number 18100586)
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 84.010, Improving
Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies)
Dated: September 27, 1995.
Thomas W. Payzant,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 95-24963 Filed 10-6-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P