Assistance to States for the Education of Children With Disabilities
| Published date | 21 October 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 56154 |
| Record Number | 2019-22888 |
| Section | Proposed rules |
| Court | Education Department |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 203 (Monday, October 21, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 203 (Monday, October 21, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 56154-56156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-22888]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Part 300
[Docket ID ED-2019-OSERS-0111]
Assistance to States for the Education of Children With
Disabilities
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of proposed interpretation.
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SUMMARY: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
established the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC)
in 2004 to assist State educational agencies (SEAs) and local
educational agencies (LEAs) to produce accessible instructional
materials for students with print disabilities. The U.S. Department of
Education (Department) issues this notice of proposed interpretation to
clarify the definition of ``print instructional materials'' in section
674(e)(3)(C) of IDEA to include digital instructional materials. This
means that the NIMAC would accept digital instructional materials.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before November 20, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies,
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to
submit your comments electronically. Information on using
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents,
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site
under ``How to use Regulations.gov.''
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you
mail or deliver your comments about this proposed interpretation,
address them to Tara Courchaine, U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5054E, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC
20202-5076.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing in
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly
available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara Courchaine, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5054E, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202-5076. Telephone: (202) 245-6462. Email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment:
We invite you to submit comments on this notice of proposed
interpretation. See ADDRESSES for instructions on how to submit
comments.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this proposed interpretation by accessing
Regulations.gov. You may also inspect the comments in person in Room
3W104, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC, between the hours of
8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each
week except Federal holidays. If you want to schedule time to inspect
comments, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate accommodation or
auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who needs assistance
to review the comments or other documents in the public record for this
document. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid,
please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
[[Page 56155]]
Background
The NIMAC was established under IDEA in 2004 to assist SEAs and
LEAs in the production of accessible instructional materials for
students with print disabilities. While discussing proposed changes to
IDEA in the Senate, Senator Dodd, a co-sponsor of the bill, commented
on the reason for establishing NIMAC stating ``. . . these important
provisions will greatly aid blind and print disabled students by
ensuring they receive their textbooks and other instructional materials
in the formats they require, such as Braille, at the same time as their
sighted peers.'' 108 Cong. Rec. S11, 656 (April 29, 2003). Similarly,
the House report notes that, ``. . . the provision is intended to
provide students who are blind or have other print disabilities with
more timely access to instructional materials used in elementary and
secondary schools.'' H.R. Rep. No. 108-77, at 98 (April 29, 2003).
Within the legislation, the scope and duties of the NIMAC as the
searchable online national file repository of K-12 print textbooks in
the XML-based National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard
(NIMAS) format are clearly defined, as are the key definitions framing
its operations.
These duties are:
1. To receive and maintain a catalog of print instructional
materials prepared in the NIMAS, as established by the Secretary, made
available to such center by the textbook publishing industry, SEAs, and
LEAs.
2. To provide access to print instructional materials, including
textbooks, in accessible media, free of charge, to blind or other
persons with print disabilities in elementary schools and secondary
schools, in accordance with such terms and procedures as the NIMAC may
prescribe.
3. To develop, adopt, and publish procedures to protect against
copyright infringement, with respect to the print instructional
materials provided in sections 612(a)(23) and 613(a)(6) of IDEA. (34
CFR 300.172(e)(1)(ii); 20 U.S.C. 1474(e)(2)(A), (B), (C))
Under section 674(e)(3)(C) of IDEA, the term ``print instructional
materials'' means ``printed textbooks and related printed core
materials that are written and published primarily for use in
elementary school and secondary school instruction and are required by
a State educational agency or local educational agency for use by
students in the classroom.'' During the 15 years since the NIMAS was
created by Federal statute, the use of digital educational materials
\1\ as a core component of elementary and secondary curriculum has
grown significantly. Currently, the majority of States have digital
learning plans and digital learning standards. In addition, State
leaders have demonstrated a commitment to digital learning and the use
of digital materials and to support personalized learning that meets
the needs of all students.\2\ In fact, in 2014 Florida developed a
five-year plan that requires all schools to move to digital
classrooms.\3\ In a recent United States survey, 75 percent of
classroom teachers expected digital content to replace traditional
print textbooks by 2026.\4\
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\1\ For the purpose of this notice of interpretation, the
Department views ``digital educational materials'' as ``digital
instructional materials.''
\2\ State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).
(2019). State K12 Instructional Materials Leadership Trends
Snapshot. See https://www.setda.org/master/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/DMAPS_snapshot_3.26.19.pdf.
\3\ Florida's Digital Classrooms Program. See http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5658/urlt/0097843-fdoedigitalclassroomsplan.pdf.
\4\ Harpur, Paul. (2017). Discrimination, copyright and
equality: Opening the e-book for the print disabled. Retrieved from
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2977629.
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Currently, IDEA does not specifically address the inclusion or use
of digital instructional materials, which were not as common when the
law was originally enacted. At this time NIMAC does not accept digital
instructional materials. This exclusion of digital materials
unnecessarily and inappropriately limits access to such materials for
students who are blind or visually impaired. The exclusion of digital
instructional materials from the NIMAC also forces teachers to retrofit
materials or provide alternate materials that are not equivalent to
those available to peers without disabilities. Additionally, these
retrofitted materials may not be provided to students in a timely
manner or are of inconsistent quality. Consequently, students who are
blind or visually impaired are potentially denied equal educational
opportunity, comparable access to materials, and access to information
in a timely manner by excluding digital instructional materials from
the definition of print instructional materials. This is especially
true for students in Pre-K-3, who require embossed braille to ensure a
solid foundation in early literacy, as well as for older students who
use braille (embossed or digital) to access academic content.
Digitally formatted materials accompanied by technology have the
potential to facilitate learning for all students. However, such
materials will benefit students who are blind, visually impaired, or
have other print disabilities only if they are available in accessible
formats.\5\
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\5\ Harpur, Paul. (2017). Discrimination, copyright and
equality: Opening the e-book for the print disabled. Retrieved from
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2977629.
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Proposed Interpretation
Given the purpose of NIMAC, the trend toward digital instructional
materials and resources, and the silence of the statute on the
acceptance of digital files, the Department proposes to interpret the
phrase ``printed textbooks and related printed core materials''
referred to in the definition of ``print instructional materials'' in
section 674(e)(3)(C) of IDEA to include digital instructional materials
that comply with NIMAS, because that is the primary medium through
which many textbooks and core materials are now printed. The Department
considers digital materials submitted to NIMAC to be in digital print
format, which falls under the larger category of ``print'' and is
consistent with the statutory language of section 674(e)(3)(C) of IDEA.
The Department believes this interpretation to be aligned with the
purpose of the statute, which is to provide timely instructional
materials to students who are blind or have other print disabilities.
Therefore, under this interpretation, NIMAC would be able to accept
digital instructional materials submitted in a valid XML-based NIMAS
format.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or portable document format (PDF). To
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article
search feature at www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through
the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit your search to
[[Page 56156]]
documents published by the Department.
Johnny W. Collett,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2019-22888 Filed 10-18-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
