Title I, Part CEducation of Migratory Children

SUMMARY: Under the authority of section 1308(d) of Title I of the

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the

Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), the Assistant Secretary for

Elementary and Secondary Education (Assistant Secretary) proposes

criteria for awarding Migrant Education Program (MEP) consortium

incentive grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) with approved

consortium arrangements.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 4, 1996.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning these proposed criteria should be

addressed to James English, U.S. Department of Education, 600

Independence Avenue, S.W., Portals Building, Room 4100, Washington,

D.C. 20202-6135. Comments may also be sent via FAX to (202) 205-0089 or

through the Internet to JamesXE[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James English. Telephone: (202) 260-

1394. 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:

Background

The MEP, authorized in Title I, Part C of the ESEA, is a State-

operated, formula grant program under which SEAs receive funds to

improve the academic achievement and welfare of migratory children who

reside in their States. Consistent with the emphasis that the

reauthorized ESEA places upon removing barriers to cross-program

coordination and integration of programs that serve migratory children,

sections 1303(d) and 1308(d) of the ESEA encourage SEAs to consider

whether consortium arrangements with other States or appropriate

entities would result in a more effective and efficient delivery of MEP

services.

In this regard, section 1303(d) directs the Secretary to consult

with States whose MEP allocations in any year will be $1 million or

less about the desirability of forming consortia. This section also

directs the Secretary to approve any State's consortium proposal that

(1) reduces MEP administrative costs or program function costs, and (2)

increases the amount of MEP funds that are made available for direct

services to migratory children that add substantially to the

educational attainment or welfare of those children. While an SEA may

form a consortium arrangement with any appropriate entity, the

Secretary, in light of the strong interstate emphases in the MEP,

encourages SEAs to establish multi-State consortium arrangements.

To encourage States to form consortium arrangements that meet the

requirements of section 1303(d), section 1308(d) of the ESEA directs

the Secretary to reserve up to $1.5 million of the funds appropriated

for the MEP for competitive incentive awards to SEAs with consortium

arrangements approved by the Secretary. Section 1308(d) also limits the

size of each of these grants to not more than $250,000, and provides

that not fewer than 10 grants be made to eligible SEAs with approved

consortium arrangements whose MEP allocations are less than $1 million.

While the provision offers all States an incentive to participate in

consortium arrangements, it was enacted particularly to benefit those

States that, because of the small size of their MEP allocations, may

have particular difficulty in both administering the MEP and providing

direct services to migratory children.

Last year, for FY 1995, the Department exercised its authority

under section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA)

to waive public comment on the criteria and process for first-year

implementation of the consortium incentive grant program. The notice of

final criteria for the FY 1995 grants was published in the Federal

Register on March 30, 1995. FY 1995 awards went to 15 SEAs

participating in five approved consortium arrangements.

Based on the Department's experience with the FY 1995 grants and

subsequent discussions with staff from SEAs that applied or considered

applying last year, the Secretary proposes to continue using the same

criteria and process, as follows, in order to award the consortium

incentive grants authorized under section 1308(d) of the ESEA in FY

1996 and subsequent fiscal years:

Eligibility for Consortium Incentive Grants

The Secretary will reserve $1.5 million to implement this

consortium incentive grant program in FY 1996. For subsequent fiscal

years, the Secretary shall announce, in the Federal Register, the

amount of funds that will be available under this grant authority.

The Secretary will use a variety of methods, including meetings and

telephone calls, to discuss with SEA officials in States receiving MEP

allocations of less than $1 million, the circumstances in which

consortium arrangements might enhance their programs for migratory

children.

Consistent with section 1303(d), a consortium arrangement will be

approved if it (1) reduces the overall amount of MEP administrative or

program function costs across the participating SEAs from the amount

that would be incurred in the absence of the consortium, and (2) makes

more funds available, in total across the participating SEAs, for

direct educational or support services to migratory children, so as to

add substantially to their welfare or educational attainment than would

have been available in the absence of the consortium.

For purposes of section 1303(d), ``administrative or program

function costs'' include all costs that an SEA or its local operating

agencies pay from MEP funds to support MEP activities other than direct

educational or support services for migratory children. Administrative

and program function costs would include the costs of general program

administration paid from funds reserved under section 1603(c) of ESEA,

as well as the costs of other, program-specific administrative

activities, such as identification and recruitment, interstate,

intrastate, and interagency coordination, and parent advisory councils.

The term ``direct educational or support services'' means any

instructional or support activities provided directly to migratory

children, as well as training of instructional or support staff who

provide instructional or support services directly to migratory

children. For purposes of section 1303(d), the term ``other appropriate

entity'' can mean any public or private agency or organization.

A single SEA may be part of more than one consortium arrangement.

However, consistent with section 1303(d) of the ESEA, each consortium

arrangement that the Secretary approves must separately decrease the

amount of

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MEP administrative or program function costs in total for the

participating SEAs and, conversely, increase the amount of MEP funds

available for direct services to migratory children in total for the

participating SEAs. An SEA will submit the information that the

Department needs to review and approve the SEA's consortium

arrangement, and determine the size of the SEA's consortium incentive

grant, through its MEP-specific application or in conjunction with the

optional consolidated State plan under section 14302 of the ESEA.

Amount of Incentive Grants

Each SEA with one or more consortium arrangements that the

Secretary determines meet the criteria in section 1303(d) of the ESEA,

and whose consortium arrangements increase the amount of MEP funds

available for direct services to migratory children in its State, will

receive one incentive award. In determining the size of an SEA's award,

the Secretary will rank SEAs seeking incentive grants on the basis of

the total percentage increase in MEP funds that the SEA will make

available for direct services to migratory children in its State as a

result of the SEA's participation in the consortium arrangements, as

compared to the level of direct services that would be made available

to migratory children in the State in the absence of the consortia.

Example I: SEA A has one consortium arrangement that increases

the amount of funds available for direct services in State A by 10

percent, while SEA B has two consortium arrangements that increase

the total amount of funds available for direct services in State B

by 8 percent. SEA A would be ranked higher than SEA B even if SEA

B's consortium arrangements permit more total funds to be used for

direct services.

Example II: SEA C and SEA D participate together in one

consortium and this consortium is the only one in which each SEA

participates. If the amount available for direct services increases

in total across the two States due to participation in the

consortium, but the amount available for direct services in State C

does not increase, the consortium arrangement will be approved, but

only State D, and not State C, will receive an incentive grant.

From the information that an SEA submits, the Department will

calculate, for each State, the total percentage increase in MEP funds

available for direct services as a result of all the approved

consortium arrangements in which the applicant SEA participates. The

Department will then rank these percentages in descending order and

divide the distribution into thirds (that is, into terciles). Each SEA

ranked in the highest third of the distribution will receive an

incentive grant that is three times the size of the grant received by

each SEA ranked in the lowest third, while each SEA ranked in the

middle third will receive an incentive grant that is twice the size of

that provided to each SEA ranked in the lowest third. Within each

third, grant awards will be of equal size, except that adjustments will

be made so that no consortium incentive grant will be greater than

$250,000 or 100 percent of the amount of funds awarded to the SEA under

its formula grant allocation, whichever is less.

An SEA may use incentive grant funds awarded under section 1308(d)

of the ESEA only to provide direct services to migratory children.

These funds are in addition to, and not in place of, the funds awarded

under the MEP formula grant.

The Secretary implements section 1308(d) in this way in order to

(1) reward all SEAs whose participation in consortium arrangements

increases direct services to migratory children in their State, (2)

provide larger awards to those SEAs whose consortium arrangements most

enhance their capacity to deliver direct services, and (3) ensure that

funds under this program are available to SEAs as soon as possible.

Applicability of the Education Department General Administrative

Regulations (EDGAR)

In view of the process that the Department proposes to use to

obtain information on proposed SEA consortium arrangements, and the

criteria it proposes to use to determine, by formula, the amount of

consortium incentive grant that each applicant SEA will receive, the

regulations in 34 CFR Part 75 (Direct Grant Programs of the Education

Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)) do not apply.

Instead, the consortium incentive grant program will be administered,

like the MEP itself, under the provisions of 34 CFR Parts 76, 77, 79,

80, and 85 of EDGAR.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

These proposed criteria have been examined under the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 and have been found to contain no information

collection requirements.

Intergovernmental Review

The MEP is subject to the requirements of Executive Order 12372 and

the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. The objective of the Executive order

is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened

federalism by relying on processes developed by State and local

governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal financial

assistance.

In accordance with this order, this document is intended to provide

early notification of the Department's specific plans and actions for

this program.

Invitation to Comment

Interested persons are invited to submit comments and

recommendations regarding these proposed criteria. The Secretary is

particularly interested in views from applicants for and recipients of

FY 1995 consortium incentive grant awards.

All comments submitted in response to these proposed criteria will

be available for public inspection, during and after the comment

period, in Room 4100, 1250 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.,

between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday of

each week except Federal holidays.

(Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6393(d), 6398(d))

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 84.011, Migratory

Education Basic State Formula Grant Program)

Dated: January 24, 1996.

Gerald N. Tirozzi,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.

[FR Doc. 96-2015 Filed 1-31-96; 8:45 am]

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