The Leader, Information Management Group, Office of the Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Applications under the Teacher Quality Enhancement

[Federal Register: December 11, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 238)]

[Notices]               

[Page 68438-68439]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr11de98-27]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION



Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request


AGENCY: Department of Education.


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SUMMARY: The Leader, Information Management Group, Office of the Chief 

Financial and Chief Information Officer invites comments on the 

submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995.


DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 

January 11, 1999.


ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Danny Werfel, Desk 

Officer, Department of Education, Office of Management and Budget, 725 

17th Street, N.W., Room 10235, New Executive Office Building, 

Washington, D.C. 20503 or should be electronically mailed to the 

internet address Werfel__d@al.eop.gov.

    The Department of Education wants very much to make the final 

application packages for these programs available to the public as soon 

as possible. Therefore, it would appreciate receiving directly from the 

public a copy of any comments addressed to the Office of Management and 

Budget. Any copy of these written comments should be addressed to 

Patrick J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, 

S.W., Room 5624, Regional Office Building 3, Washington, D.C. 20202-

4651 and Louis J. Venuto, Higher Education Programs, Office of 

Postsecondary Education, 1280 Maryland Ave. S.W., Cy-80, Portals 

Building, Washington, D.C. 20202-5329. A copy of comments also may be 

electronically mailed to the internet address Pat__Sherrill@ed.gov and 

Louis__Venuto@ed.gov, or faxed to Patrick J. Sherrill at 202-708-9346 

and Louis J. Venuto at 202-708-9046. In addition, the Department of 

Education and the Office of Management and Budget will carefully review 

all written comments received within 30 days of publication of this 

notice. However, as a courtesy to those working to prepare the final 

application packages for these programs, the Department respectfully 

requests receipt of written comment as early as possible, preferably on 

or before December 28, 1998.

    Requests for copies of the proposed information collection requests 

should be addressed to: Patrick J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 

600 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 5624, Regional Office Building 3, 

Washington, D.C. 20202-4651, or should be electronically mailed to the 

internet address, Pat__Sherrill@ed.gov or faxed to (202) 708-9346.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick J. Sherrill (202) 708-8196. 

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.


[[Page 68439]]


    The Department anticipates that application packages for the State 

Grants Program, Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program, and 

the Teacher Recruitment Program will be available in late January of 

1999. It is proposing that the Department receive all applications 

under each of these programs by April 16, 1999, so that grant awards 

may be made by mid to late July. However, because of the particular 

complexity of the Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program, the 

Department is considering use of a pre-application procedure for this 

program. Under this procedure, all applicants first would submit 

synopses of their proposals. Reviewers would assess the quality of 

these synopses, and invite applicants whose synopses are found to be of 

highest quality to submit full applications. Grant awards issues under 

the Partnership Grants for Teacher Education Program might not be 

issued until early September, 1999. By law, the Department must award 

these grants no later than September 30, 1999.

    The Department is considering this option out of concern that 

partnerships choosing to apply for grants under this program (1) may 

need a significant period of time to plan their working relationships 

and activities, and (2) should only need to spend the time and 

resources preparing the full program application if their proposals are 

deemed to be of sufficiently high quality. In addition, a pre-

application process might enable peer reviewers to better focus their 

attention on those applications that most warrant it.

    The Department specifically requests written comment from potential 

applicants on (1) whether the Department should adopt this proposal for 

a pre-application procedure even though doing so will delay grant 

awards and (2), if so, how the Department should address key issues 

such as: the information the pre-applications should contain; the 

criteria reviewers should use to select those applicants who they would 

recommend be invited to submit full applications, the length of the 

pre-applications; and the length of time that applicants will need to 

prepare pre-applications and, if requested to do so, the final program 

applications. In considering these issues, the public may find it 

useful to review the proposed selection criteria for the Partnership 

Grants for Teacher Education Program that are contained in the 

program's application package. In addition, the public should be aware 

that if a pre-application procedure is used, the Department estimates 

it may need over three and one half months to process, peer-review, and 

select applicants for both phases of the application process.

    Written comments on these and other matters should be sent as early 

as possible to the addresses identified at the beginning of this 

notice.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires that the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) provide interested Federal agencies and the public an 

early opportunity to comment on information collection requests. OMB 

may amend or waive the requirement for public consultation to the 

extent that public participation in the approval process would defeat 

the purpose of the information collection, violate State or Federal 

law, or substantially interfere with any agency's ability to perform 

its statutory obligations. The Leader, Information Management Group, 

Office of the Chief Financial and Chief Information Officer, publishes 

that notice containing proposed information collection requests prior 

to submission of these requests to OMB. Each proposed information 

collection, grouped by office, contains the following: (1) Type of 

review requested, e.g., new, revision, extension, existing or 

reinstatement; (2) Title; (3) Summary of the collection; (4) 

Description of the need for, and proposed use of, the information; (5) 

Respondents and frequency of collection; and (6) Reporting and/or 

Recordkeeping burden. OMB invites public comment at the address 

specified above. Copies of the requests are available from Louis Venuto 

at the address specified above.


    Dated: December 7, 1998.

Kent H. Hannaman,

Leader, Information Management Group, Office of the Chief Financial and 

Chief Information Officer.


Office of Postsecondary Education


    Type of Review: New.

    Title: Applications under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants.

    Frequency: Annually.

    Affected Public: State, Local or Tribal Gov't, SEAs or LEAs.

    Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:

      Responses: 100

      Burden Hours: 4,000

    Abstract: This application package is essential for Governors, 

State and Local agencies, and institutions of higher education to apply 

for new awards under the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants fiscal year 

1999 competition.

    This information collection is being submitted under the 

Streamlined Clearance Process for Discretionary Grant Information 

Collections (1890-0001). Therefore, this 30-day public comment period 

notice will be the only public comment notice published for this 

information collection.


[FR Doc. 98-32940 Filed 12-10-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000-01-P