FR Doc E6-3362
[Federal Register: March 9, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 46)]
[Notices]
[Page 12187-12189]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09mr06-44]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems
AGENCY: Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed requirements.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools
proposes five requirements for the Grants for the Integration of
Schools and Mental Health Systems program. We may use these
requirements for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2006 and later years.
We take this action to focus Federal financial assistance on an
identified national need. We intend the requirements to improve the
linkages among local school systems, local mental health systems, and
local juvenile justice systems.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 10, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments about these proposed requirements to
Dana Carr, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room
3E100, Washington, DC 20202-6450. If you prefer to send your comments
through the Internet, use the following address: Dana.Carr@ed.gov.
You must include the term ``Grants for the Integration of Schools
and Mental Health Systems, 215M'' in the subject line of your
electronic message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dana Carr. Telephone: (202) 260-0823
or via Internet: Dana.Carr@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) 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
requirements. To ensure that your comments have maximum effect in
developing the
[[Page 12188]]
notice of final requirements, we urge you to identify clearly the
specific proposed requirement that each comment addresses.
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
requirements. 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 program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about these proposed requirements in room 3E242, 400 Maryland
Avenue, 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 these proposed requirements. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background
The Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems
program seeks to improve the linkages among school, mental health, and
juvenile justice systems regarding the provision of mental health
services to students. The program supports efforts to develop and
strengthen the infrastructure in a State or local educational agency or
Indian tribe to improve student access to mental health services by
creating relationships and protocols, by providing training for
teachers and other staff on a range of related issues, and by involving
families in program design and implementation, in a manner that is
complementary to and does not duplicate any previous or ongoing
efforts.
Funds awarded under this program are intended to improve linkages,
to create and enhance the infrastructure between State and local
agencies and authorities, and ultimately to improve students' access to
mental health services. We believe that improved collaboration and
infrastructure development among these entities offers the best
opportunity for the development of sustainable mental health services
in communities. Program funds should not be used to hire or contract
for the services of an outside direct mental health service provider
because the cost of these services is significant and would restrict
the available funding under the program to a very limited number of
sites. Use of Federal funds to pay these costs also would do little to
contribute to the program's overall goal of increasing coordinated
activities among schools, law enforcement/juvenile justice agencies,
and mental health systems that are focused on enhancing State and local
sustainable capacity to improve students' access to mental health
services.
To facilitate this improved collaboration and infrastructure, the
Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program
requires an Interagency Agreement. The Agreement will delineate each
entity's responsibilities and describe the interactions between the
parties. In addition to the statutorily required components of the
Agreement, we propose that recipients adopt procedures for obtaining
parental consent before provision of services and for ensuring
responsible communication with parents concerning their children's
mental health needs and services. Many members of the public have been
concerned about parents being excluded from a range of activities
related to children's mental health, from screening to treatment. This
requirement would help ensure that recipients address these concerns.
We have worked with the Department of Health and Human Services'
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop
these proposed requirements; this notice reflects the two agencies'
common philosophy and approach.
We will announce the final requirements in a notice in the Federal
Register. We will determine the final requirements after considering
responses to this notice and other information available to the
Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing or funding
additional requirements, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking
requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use one or more of these requirements, we invite
applications through a notice in the Federal Register.
Requirements
Proposed Requirement 1: Coordination of Activities
We propose that recipients of a grant under the Grants for the
Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program be required to
coordinate project activities with projects funded under the Department
of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration's Mental Health Transformation State
Infrastructure Grants (MHTSIG) program (CFDA 93.243), if a grantee's
State receives a MHTSIG award. If a recipient of a grant under the
Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program
has received or receives a grant under the Department of Education's
Emergency Response and Crisis Management (ERCM) program (CFDA 84.184E),
the recipient must coordinate mental health service activities under
this grant with those planned under its ERCM grant. Projects funded by
this program must complement, rather than duplicate, existing or
ongoing efforts.
Proposed Requirement 2: Safe Schools/Healthy Students Recipients
Excluded From Receiving Awards
We propose that former or current recipients under the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students program (CFDA 84.184L) will not be eligible to
receive a Grant for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health
Systems program. Recipients of Safe Schools/Healthy Students awards are
responsible for completing a scope of work under that program that is
very similar to the activities required under the Grants for the
Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program. By
restricting the applicant pool to eliminate former or current grantees
under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program, we will be able to
focus Federal funds on entities that have not yet received Federal
support to develop and implement strong linkages with other entities in
their communities for the provision of mental health services to
students.
Applicants may compete for both the Grants for the Integration of
Schools and Mental Health Systems and Safe Schools/Healthy Students
programs in the same year; if applicants are deemed eligible for
funding in both grant competitions, the applicant will receive the
larger and more comprehensive of the awards.
[[Page 12189]]
Proposed Requirement 3: Preliminary Interagency Agreement
We propose that applicants for an award under the Grants for the
Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems program develop and
submit with their applications a preliminary interagency agreement
(IAA). The IAA must contain the signatures of an authorized
representative of at least (1) One or more State or local educational
agencies or Indian tribes; (2) one or more juvenile justice
authorities; and (3) one or more State or local public mental health
agencies. This preliminary IAA would confirm the commitment of these
partners to complete the work under the proposed project, if funded. If
funded, recipients will complete a final IAA as required by section
5541(e) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as
amended (ESEA). The final IAA must be completed and submitted to us,
signed by all parties, no later than 12 months after the award date.
Applications that do not include the proposed preliminary IAA with
all of the required signatures would be rejected and not considered for
funding.
Proposed Requirement 4: Inclusion of Parental Consent Considerations in
Final IAA
We propose that the final Interagency Agreement (IAA) include a
description of policies and procedures that would ensure appropriate
parental or caregiver consent for any planned services, pursuant to
State or local laws or other requirements.
Proposed Requirement 5: Provision of Direct Services
We propose that grant funds under this program not be used to
provide direct services to students.
Executive Order 12866
This notice of proposed requirements has been reviewed in
accordance with Executive Order 12866. Under the terms of the order, we
have assessed the potential costs and benefits of this regulatory
action.
The potential costs associated with the notice of proposed
requirements are those resulting from statutory requirements and those
we have determined as necessary for administering this program
effectively and efficiently.
In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative
and qualitative--of this notice of proposed requirements, we have
determined that the benefits of the proposed requirements justify the
costs.
We have also determined that this regulatory action does not unduly
interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the exercise of
their governmental functions.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to 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 documents of this
Department published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/news/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.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 84.215M)
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7269.
Dated: March 6, 2006.
Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
[FR Doc. E6-3362 Filed 3-8-06; 8:45 am]
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