Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Form for Maintenance of Effort Waiver Requests
| Published date | 24 September 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 50024 |
| Record Number | 2019-20663 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Education Department |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 185 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50024-50025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20663]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket No.: ED-2019-ICCD-0121]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Form
for Maintenance of Effort Waiver Requests
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Department
of Education (ED).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is
proposing an extension of an existing information collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
November 25, 2019.
ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the
information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2019-ICCD-
0121. Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number or via postal
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the regulations.gov
site is not available to the public for any reason, ED will temporarily
accept comments at [email protected]. Please include the docket ID
number and the title of the information collection request when
requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that comments
submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period
will not be accepted. Written requests for information or comments
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the
Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S.
Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW, PCP, Room 9086,
Washington, DC 20202-0023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to
collection activities, please contact Todd Stephenson, 202-205-1645.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in
the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed
information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The
Department of Education is especially interested in public comment
addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to
the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be
processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden
accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the
Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents,
including through the use of information technology. Please note that
written comments received in response to this notice will be considered
public records.
Title of Collection: Form for Maintenance of Effort Waiver
Requests.
OMB Control Number: 1810-0693.
Type of Review: An extension of an existing information collection.
Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 20.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,600.
Abstract: Section 8521(a) of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA)
provides that a local educational agency (LEA) may receive funds under
Title I, Part A and other ESEA ``covered programs'' for any fiscal year
only if the State educational agency (SEA) finds that either the
combined fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of the
LEA and the State with respect to the provision of free public
education by the LEA for the preceding fiscal year was not less than 90
percent of the combined fiscal effort or aggregate expenditures for the
second preceding fiscal year. This provision is the maintenance of
effort (MOE) requirements for LEAs under the ESEA.
If an LEA fails to meet the MOE requirement, under section 8521(b)
of the ESEA, the SEA must reduce the amount of funds allocated under
the programs covered by the MOE requirement in any fiscal year in the
exact proportion by which the LEA fails to maintain effort by falling
below 90 percent of either the combined fiscal effort per student or
aggregate expenditures, if the LEA has also failed to maintain effort
for 1 or more of the 5 immediately preceding fiscal years. In reducing
an LEA's allocation because it failed to meet the MOE requirement, the
SEA uses the measure most favorable to the LEA.
Section 8521(c) gives the U.S. Department of Education (ED) the
authority to waive the ESEA's MOE requirement for an LEA if it would be
equitable to grant the waiver due to an exceptional or uncontrollable
circumstance such as a natural disaster or a change in the
organizational structure of the LEA or a precipitous decline in the
LEA's financial resources. If an MOE waiver is granted, the reduction
required by section 8521(b) does not occur for that year.
A request for a waiver of the MOE requirement is discretionary.
Only an LEA that has failed to maintain effort and that believes its
failure justifies a waiver would request one. To review an MOE waiver
request, ED relies primarily on expenditure, revenue, and other data
relevant to an LEA's request provided by the SEA. To assist an SEA with
submitting this information, ED developed an MOE waiver form as part of
the 2009 Title I, Part A Waiver Guidance, which covered a range of
waivers that ED invited at that time.
The purpose of this collection is to renew approval for the MOE
waiver form. This MOE waiver form has been updated to reflect the
statutory changes in the ESEA, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds
Act. ED believes that the proposed form, which is slightly modified
from the currently approved version, will enable an SEA to provide
[[Page 50025]]
the information needed in an efficient manner. This collection includes
burden at the SEA level.
Dated: September 19, 2019.
Kate Mullan,
PRA Coordinator, Information Collection Clearance Program, Information
Management Branch, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-20663 Filed 9-23-19; 8:45 am]
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