03-2193. Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education.

ACTION:

Notice of proposed extension of project period and waiver.

SUMMARY:

The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), at 34 CFR 75.250 and 75.261(a), that generally prohibit project periods exceeding 5 years and project extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds to enable the Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent Centers to receive funding from April 1, 2003, until September 30, 2003.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before March 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Address all comments concerning this proposal to Debra Sturdivant or Donna Fluke, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 3527, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2641. If you prefer to send your comments through the Internet, use the following address: [e-mail] or [e-mail].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Debra Sturdivant, Telephone: [phone], or Donna Fluke, Telephone: [phone].

If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request to the contact persons listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment

We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed extension of project period and waiver.

During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public comments about this extension of project period and waiver in Room 3414, Switzer Building, 330 C Street, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking Record

On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public rulemaking record for this proposed extension of project period and waiver. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, you may call [phone] or [phone]. If you use a TDD, you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

Background

On July 29, 2002, we published in the Federal Register (67 FR 49014-49015) a notice of extension of project period and waiver. In this notice we announced that the Secretary intends to redesign the technical assistance component of the Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities program and provide funding in fiscal year 2003. The notice of waiver and extension of project period was issued to enable the current technical assistance provider, the Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent Centers Project to receive funding from October 1, 2002, until March 31, 2003. The grant for the ALLIANCE expired, after a 5-year project period, on September 30, 2002.

Technical assistance is provided on an ongoing basis to parent centers, and it would be contrary to the public interest to have any service lapses for the parent centers being served by the current grantee.

Reasons

We have determined that an additional period of time is needed for redesigning the technical assistance component. To avoid any lapse in service for the intended beneficiaries before the redesigned technical assistance component can be fully implemented, the Secretary proposes to fund this project until September 30, 2003. However, to do so, the Secretary must waive the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250 and 75.261(c)(2), which prohibit project periods exceeding 5 years and period extensions that involve the obligation of additional Federal funds. We are proposing a waiver at this time in order to give the affected grantee early notice of the availability of an additional six months of funding.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of the project period will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The only small entity that would be affected is the PACER Center, Inc., which operates the Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent Centers project.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

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

Intergovernmental Review

This program is subject to the requirements of Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 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.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may view this document, as well as all other Department of Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/​legislation/​FedRegister.

To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at [phone].

Note:

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 on GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/​nara/​index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.328, Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities.)

Dated: January 27, 2003.

Robert H. Pasternack,

Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.