83 FR 3336 - Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period; DC Opportunity Scholarship Program

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 16 (January 24, 2018)

For projects funded under the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the Secretary proposes to waive the requirements of the Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally prohibit project period extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. A waiver would allow the three-year grant funded with fiscal year (FY) 2015 funds under the OSP to be continued beyond its original project period with FY 2018 and FY 2019 funds.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3336-3338]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01307]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[ED-2018-OII-0003]


Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period; DC 
Opportunity Scholarship Program

AGENCY: Office of Innovation and Improvement, Department of Education.

ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of the project period.

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Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.370A]

SUMMARY: For projects funded under the DC Opportunity Scholarship 
Program (OSP), the Secretary proposes to waive the requirements of the 
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally 
prohibit project period extensions involving the obligation of 
additional Federal funds. A waiver would allow the three-year grant 
funded with fiscal year (FY) 2015 funds under the OSP to be continued 
beyond its original project period with FY 2018 and FY 2019 funds.

DATES: The Department must receive your comments on or before February 
23, 2018.

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

[[Page 3337]]

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 ``Help.''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this proposed waiver and extension 
of the project period, address them to Justis Tuia, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 4W251, Washington, DC 20202.
    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: Anna Hinton, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 4W229, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 260-1816 or by email: [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Invitation to Comment: The Department invites you to submit 
comments regarding this proposed waiver and extension of the project 
period.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this proposed waiver and extension by accessing 
Regulations.gov. You may also inspect all public comments about this 
proposal in Room 4W229, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC, between 
the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, Monday 
through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
    Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request, the Department 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 rulemaking record for this notice. If you want 
to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the 
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Background

    On February 23, 2015, the Department of Education (Department) 
published in the Federal Register (80 FR 9448) a notice inviting 
applications (2015 NIA) for a new award for FY 2015 under the OSP.
    The OSP provides low-income students residing in Washington, DC 
with an opportunity to receive a scholarship to attend a participating 
private school of their choice. The OSP was established in 2004 under 
the DC School Choice Incentive Act. In 2011, Congress reauthorized the 
OSP through FY 2016 under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results 
Act (SOAR Act) (Pub. L. 112-10); and, in FY 2017, the SOAR Act was 
reauthorized through FY 2019 by the FY 2017 Consolidated Appropriations 
Act (Pub. L. 115-31).
    Under the SOAR Act, the Department awards one grant to an eligible 
applicant to administer the OSP. The grant awarded is in the form of a 
cooperative agreement between the Department and the grantee. The 
grantee is required to recruit and make scholarship awards to eligible 
scholarship applicants; support and serve scholarship students and 
their families in making school choice decisions; identify and work 
with participating schools; monitor compliance of participating schools 
with program and reporting requirements; maintain reliable data 
regarding the operation of the program; and ensure appropriate 
coordination with the other entities that conduct activities related to 
program operations. The SOAR Act also provides for a performance period 
of up to five years for the OSP grant award.
    The current OSP grantee was awarded with a three-year grant from 
October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2018. The Department would typically 
conduct a new grant competition in FY 2018.

Proposed Waiver of 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2)

    The Department seeks to extend the period of performance of the 
existing OSP grant for up to two more years and waive the provisions of 
34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2) so that the current grantee may continue to 
receive additional funds to serve students in FY 2018 and FY 2019. The 
Department proposes this waiver based primarily on four factors. First, 
extending the current grantee's project would create stability and 
continuity as the program enters the final two years of the current 
SOAR Act authorization. Second, few organizations are eligible for and 
have the capacity to administer this program, which is evident by the 
small number of eligible applications that have been submitted under 
past OSP competitions. Third, extending the current grantee's project 
would permit the current grantee to fully implement the new recruitment 
and marketing strategies designed to significantly increase scholarship 
usage rates. The Department believes it is unlikely that a new program 
administrator could expeditiously and effectively implement the newly 
designed outreach efforts of the current grantee. Fourth, extending the 
current grantee's project would align the next OSP competition with the 
next anticipated reauthorization of the SOAR Act. Accordingly, the 
Department does not believe it would be in the public interest to hold 
a competition for a new OSP administrator before FY 2020.
    If this proposed waiver becomes final through a notice of final 
waiver and extension of the project period published in the Federal 
Register--
     Any activities carried out during the extended project 
period would have to be consistent with, or a logical extension of, the 
scope, goals, and objectives of the grantee's application as approved 
in the 2015 competition;
     The requirements applicable to continuation awards for 
this competition set forth in the 2015 NIA and the requirements in 34 
CFR 75.253 would apply to any continuation award sought by the current 
grantee. We will base our decision regarding a continuation award on 
the program narrative, budget, budget narrative, and program 
performance report submitted by the current grantee for FY 2018, and 
the requirements in 34 CFR 75.253; and
     The Department would not announce a new competition or 
make a new award under the OSP in FY 2018 or FY 2019.
    The proposed waiver and project period extension would not exempt 
the current OSP grantee from the account-closing provisions of 31 
U.S.C. 1552(a).

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension and 
the activities required to support additional months of funding would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities.
    The small entity that would be affected by this proposed waiver and 
extension is the FY 2015 grantee, the non-profit organization currently 
receiving Federal funds under the OSP. The proposed waiver and 
extension would not have a significant economic impact on this entity 
because the

[[Page 3338]]

activities required to support the additional year(s) of funding would 
not impose excessive regulatory burdens or require unnecessary Federal 
supervision. The waiver would impose minimal requirements to ensure the 
proper expenditure of program funds, including requirements that are 
standard for continuation awards.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    This notice of proposed waiver and extension does not contain any 
information collection requirements.

Intergovernmental Review

    This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the 
regulations in 34 CFR 79. One of the objectives of the Executive Order 
is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened 
federalism. The Executive Order relies on processes developed by State 
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal 
financial assistance. This document provides early notification of our 
specific plans and actions for this program.
    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 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. Free 
internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.thefederalregister.org/fdsys. 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 this 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 documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: January 18, 2018.
Margo K. Anderson,
Acting Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement.
[FR Doc. 2018-01307 Filed 1-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P