83 FR 5411 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Application for Flexibility for Equitable Per-Pupil Funding

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 26 (February 7, 2018)

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction of 1995, ED is requesting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct an emergency review of a new information collection.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 7, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5411-5412]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-02421]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2018-ICCD-0010]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Application for Flexibility for Equitable Per-Pupil Funding

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 of 1995, ED is 
requesting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct an 
emergency review of a new information collection.

DATES: Approval by the OMB has been requested by 2/7/2018. A regular 
clearance process is also hereby being initiated. Interested persons 
are invited to submit comments on or before April 9, 2018.

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-2018-ICCD-
0010. 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. 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, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, LBJ, Room 216-44, 
Washington, DC 20202-4537.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Jessica McKinney, 202-401-1960.

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: Application for Flexibility for Equitable Per-
pupil Funding.
    OMB Control Number: 1810-NEW.
    Type of Review: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control 
Number).
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 20.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,120.
    Abstract: This is a request for emergency clearance to collect 
critical information for the Application for Flexibility for Equitable 
Per-pupil Funding, the instrument through which local educational 
agencies (LEAs) apply for flexibility to consolidate eligible Federal 
funds and State and local education funding based on weighted per-pupil 
allocations for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged students. This 
program allows LEAs to consolidate funds under the Elementary and 
Secondary Education of 1965 Federal education programs.
    These Federal education programs were reauthorized by the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by 
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The ESSA added a new program to 
the ESEA, the Flexibility for Equitable Per-pupil Funding under section 
1501. This discretionary flexibility allows the U.S. Department of 
Education (Department) to offer an LEA the opportunity to consolidate 
funds under the above-listed programs to support the LEA in creating a 
single school funding system based on weighted per-pupil allocations 
for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged students, with attendant 
flexibility in using those funds. For the initial three-year period, 
the Department may approve this flexibility for up to 50 LEAs.
    Given the priority of an orderly transition, the earliest available 
time to award flexibility related to the use of federal funding was 
School Year 2018-2019, which mostly takes place during FY 2019. This 
aligns with States' transition to ``full'' compliance, as all 
provisions of the law will be effective by FY 2019, including those 
that were otherwise delayed under orderly transition authority. This 
timeframe also aligns with the implementation of the other pilot 
program provided in ESSA, the Innovative Assessment Demonstration 
Authority (IADA).
    Although an approximate timeframe was established, by necessity, 
the planning for a new and potentially far-reaching program could not 
begin in earnest until new political leadership had been appointed. 
This planning began in mid-2017 following the appointment of Secretary 
DeVos and other political leadership.
    The scope of work for the development of the application was 
significant. The program is entirely new and involves broad authority 
for the Secretary to waive provisions of the ESEA, although only after 
a successful applicant meets several dozen precise and technical 
requirements related to the allocation, use and reporting of funds. 
Given that the program is new and highly technical, affects the use of 
federal funds, waives other federal requirements, and involves a 
potential applicant pool of thousands of school districts, the 
development of an application required significant legal and policy 
analysis, which lasted several months.
    Lastly, between enactment of ESSA and the present date, there were 
also several major anticipated and unanticipated events, including a 
change in Presidential and Secretarial administration, Congressional 
action that eliminated certain implementing regulations of the law, and 
significant

[[Page 5412]]

turnover in staff related to both the change in administration and 
natural attrition over a period of multiple years. These events impact 
the capacity, decision-making structure, and institutional knowledge of 
the Department, causing it to be less agile and to move at a slower 
velocity for some period. Fortunately in recent months that has 
changed. However, due to these events, including some that were 
unforeseen, as well as the other conditions described in the paragraphs 
above, the development of the application was affected.
    The end result remains that a traditional paperwork clearance would 
have resulted in applicants being unable to use the awarded flexibility 
until the 2019-2020 school year, which would delay a program that 
Congress intended to equitably allocate resources to educationally 
disadvantaged students. Therefore, the Department is seeking emergency 
clearance.

    Dated: February 2, 2018.
Tomakie Washington,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Office of 
the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO), Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2018-02421 Filed 2-6-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P