Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

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 W[email protected].

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__S[email protected] and

Louis__V[email protected], 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__S[email protected] 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