[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 76 (Thursday, April 20, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19814-19816]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-9716]
[[Page 19813]]
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Part II
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
Bilingual Education: Program Grants; Notices
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 76 / Thursday, April 20, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 19814]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Bilingual Education: Comprehensive School Grants; Bilingual
Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants; and Bilingual Education:
Program Enhancement Grants
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of final priorities for fiscal year (FY) 1995.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary announces priorities for FY 1995 under the
following programs authorized by title VII of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, as amended (the Act): (1) Bilingual Education:
Comprehensive School Grants, (2) Bilingual Education: Systemwide
Improvement Grants, and (3) Bilingual Education: Program Enhancement
Grants. The Secretary takes this action to focus Federal financial
assistance on an identified national need. These priorities provide for
a competitive preference to be given to projects providing program
services in an Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community designated
under section 1391 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by title
XIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.
EFFECTIVE DATE: These priorities take effect on May 22, 1995.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harry Logel, U.S. Department of
Education, 600 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 5090, Switzer Building,
Washington, D.C. 20202. Telephone: (202) 205-5530. Individuals who use
a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8
p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice contains priorities under the
following programs:
Bilingual Education: Comprehensive School Grants.
Bilingual Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants.
Bilingual Education: Program Enhancement Grants.
The purpose of each program is stated separately under the title of
that program in a later section of this notice.
Funding of particular projects depends on the availability of funds
and the quality of the applications received.
Note: This notice of final priorities does not solicit
applications. Notices inviting applications under these competitions
are published separately in this issue of the Federal Register.
Background
The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program is a critical
element of the Administration's community revitalization strategy. The
program is a first step in rebuilding communities in America's poverty-
stricken inner cities and rural heartlands. It is designed to empower
people and communities by inspiring Americans to work together to
create jobs and opportunity.
Under this program, the Federal Government has designated certain
areas as Empowerment Zones and as Enterprise Communities in accordance
with Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 1391, as amended by title XIII
of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-66). Each
of these areas was nominated by one or more local governments and the
State or States in which it is located or by a State-Chartered Economic
Development Corporation. The selected areas are characterized by
pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general distress, and have a
poverty rate of not less than the level specified in section 1392 of
the IRC.
Interested individuals may contact the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) at 1-800-998-9999 for additional information on
the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program. A listing of
areas that have been selected as Empowerment Zones and Enterprise
Communities is included as an appendix to this notice.
In the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program,
communities submitted strategic plans that comprehensively address how
the community would link economic development with education and
training as well as how community development, public safety, human
services, and environmental initiatives together would support
sustainable communities. Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities
were designated by the Department of Agriculture and HUD based on the
quality of their strategic plans. Designated areas will receive Federal
grant funds and substantial tax benefits and will have access to other
Federal programs.
The Department of Education is supporting the Empowerment Zone and
Enterprise Community initiative in a variety of ways. It is encouraging
Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities to use funds they already
receive from Department of Education programs (including Title I of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended, the Drug-
Free Schools and Community Act, the Adult Education Act, and the Carl
D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act) to support
the comprehensive vision of their strategic plans. In addition, the
Department of Education intends to give preferences to Empowerment
Zones and Enterprise Communities in a number of discretionary grant
programs that are well-suited for inclusion in a comprehensive approach
to economic and community development. In addition to the Bilingual
Education: Comprehensive School Grants program, the Bilingual
Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants program, and the Bilingual
Education: Program Enhancement Grants program, the Department intends
to give preferences to Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities in
the Urban Community Service program, the Parent Training program and
Early Childhood Education program under the Individuals With
Disabilities Education Act, and a variety of discretionary programs
under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Relationship of the Program Enhancement Grants Program, the
Comprehensive School Grants Program, and the Systemwide Improvement
Grants Program to the Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community
Program
These Bilingual Education programs provide grants to assist local
educational agencies (LEAs), LEAs in collaboration with other entities,
institutions of higher education (IHEs), and community-based
organizations (CBOs) to develop and enhance their capacity to provide
high-quality instruction through bilingual education or special
alternative instruction programs to limited English proficient (LEP)
children and youth. These programs are intended to help LEP children
and youth to develop proficiency in English and, to the extent
possible, their native language and to meet the same challenging
academic State standards set for all children and youth.
These Bilingual Education programs are ideally suited to play a key
role in the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program because
of the high concentration of LEP children and youth in low-income
areas. By improving the quality of education provided to LEP children
and youth, these programs enhance their economic opportunities and
contribute to the improvement of our communities.
Communities designated as Empowerment Zones or Enterprise
Communities already have demonstrated a capacity for the type of
cooperative planning that is critical to [[Page 19815]] developing and
maintaining successful educational systems. Projects funded under these
programs will provide models for educational systems in other
distressed areas.
In addition, these Bilingual Education programs provide a vehicle
for achieving the National Education Goal that by the year 2000 every
adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and
skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights
and responsibilities of citizenship. These programs help further this
goal by encouraging programs that help LEP children and youth become
proficient in English and meet the same high academic State standards
set for all children and youth.
Accordingly, the Secretary has determined that it would serve the
purposes of the three programs in this notice to award a competitive
preference to applications that propose projects that serve these
Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities.
Bilingual Education: Program Enhancement Grants
Purpose of Program
Under section 7113 of the Act, the purpose of the program is to
assist (1) LEAs, (2) LEAs in collaboration with IHEs, CBOs, other LEAs,
or an SEA, or (3) CBOs and IHEs that have had their applications
approved by LEAs to carry out highly focused, innovative, locally
designed projects to expand or enhance existing bilingual education or
special alternative instructional programs for LEP students.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7423
Bilingual Education: Comprehensive School Grants
Purpose of Program
Under section 7114 of the Act, the purpose of the program is to
assist LEAs or LEAs in collaboration with IHEs, CBOs, other LEAs, or an
SEA to implement schoolwide bilingual education programs or special
alternative instructional programs for reforming, restructuring, and
upgrading all relevant programs and operations, within an individual
school, that serve virtually all LEP children and youth in schools with
significant concentrations of these children and youth.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7424.
Bilingual Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants
Purpose of Program
Under section 7115 of the Act, the purpose of the program is to
assist LEAs or LEAs in collaboration with IHEs, CBOs, other LEAs, or an
SEA to implement districtwide bilingual education programs or special
alternative instructional programs to improve, reform, and upgrade
relevant programs and operations, within an entire LEA, that serve a
significant number of LEP children and youth in one or more LEAs with
significant concentrations of these children and youth.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7425
Priority
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), the Secretary gives preference to
applications that meet the following competitive priority. The
Secretary awards 5 points to an application that meets this competitive
priority. These points would be in addition to any points an
application earns under the selection criteria for the programs to
which this priority applies. The priority applies to the following
programs:
Bilingual Education: Comprehensive School Grants.
Bilingual Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants.
Bilingual Education: Program Enhancement Grants.
Under each of these programs, competitive preference will be given
to applications that--
(1) Propose to provide services to schools and LEP students
eligible to be served under the program located in one or more
Empowerment Zones or Enterprise Communities; and
(2) Propose projects that contribute to the strategic plan of the
Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community and that are made an integral
component of the Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community activities.
Waiver of Proposed Priority
In accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553),
it is the practice of the Department of Education to offer interested
parties the opportunity to comment on proposed priorities. However, in
order to make timely grant awards in FY 1995, the Director, in
accordance with section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions
Act, has decided to issue this final priority, which will apply only to
the FY 1995 grant competition.
Intergovernmental Review
These programs are subject to the requirements of Executive Order
12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. The objective of the
Executive order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a
strengthened federalism by relying on processes developed by State and
local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance.
In accordance with the order, this document is intended to provide
early notification of the Department's specific plans and actions for
these programs.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers: 84.289 Bilingual
Education: Program Enhancement Grants; 84.290 Bilingual Education:
Comprehensive School Grants; and 84.291
Bilingual Education: Systemwide Improvement Grants.)
Dated: April 11, 1995.
Eugene E. Garcia,
Director, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs.
Appendix--Areas Designated as Empowerment Zones and Enterprise
Communities
Urban Empowerment Zones
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Chicago, Illinois
Detroit, Michigan
New York, New York
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania & Camden, New Jersey
Urban Supplemental Zones
Los Angeles, California
Cleveland, Ohio
Rural Empowerment Zones
Kentucky Highlands (Clinton, Jackson, Wayne Counties, Kentucky)
Mid-Delta Mississippi (Bolivar, Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore Counties,
Mississippi)
Rio Grande Valley Texas (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy Counties,
Texas)
Urban Enhanced Enterprise Communities
Boston, Massachusetts
Houston, Texas
Kansas City, Kansas & Kansas City, Missouri
Oakland, California
Urban and Rural Enterprise Communities
(Listed Alphabetically by State)
Alabama
Birmingham
Chambers County
Green & Sumter Counties
Arizona
Arizona Border Region: Cochise, Santa Cruz & Yuma Counties
Phoenix
Arkansas
Eastern Arkansas: Cross, Lee, Monrow & St. Francis Counties
Mississippi County
Pulaski County
California
Imperial County
Los Angeles (South Central/Huntington Park)
San Diego [[Page 19816]]
San Francisco (Hunters Point)
City of Watsonville: Santa Cruz County
Colorado
Denver
Connecticut
Bridgeport
New Haven
Delaware
Wilmington
District of Columbia
Washington
Florida
Dade County/Miami
Jackson County
Tampa
Georgia
Albany
Crisp & Dooly Counties
Central Savannah River Area: Burke, Hancock, Jefferson, McDuffie,
Tallaferro & Warren Counties
Illinois
East St. Louis
Springfield
Indiana
Indianapolis
Iowa
Des Moines
Kentucky
Louisville
McCreary County
Louisiana
Macon Ridge: Catahouis, Concordia, Franklin, Morehouse & Tensas
Parishes
New Orleans
Northeast Louisiana Delta: Madison Parish
Ouachita Parish
Massachusetts
Lowell
Springfield
Michigan
Flint
Lake County
Muskegon
Minnesota
Minneapolis
St. Paul
Mississippi
Jackson
North Delta: Panola, Quitman & Tallahatchie Counties
Missouri
City of East Prairie: Mississippi County
St. Louis
Nebraska
Omaha
Nevada
Clark County/Las Vegas
New Hampshire
Manchester
New Jersey
Newark
New Mexico
Albuquerque
Mora, Taos, & Rio Ariba Counties
New York
Albany
Buffalo
Newburgh-Kingston
Rochester
North Carolina
Charlotte
Halifax, Edgecombe & Wilson Counties
Robeson County
Ohio
Akron
Columbus
Greater Portsmouth: Scioto County
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
Southeast Oklahoma: Choctaw & McCurtain Counties
Oregon
Josephine County
Portland
Pennsylvania
Harrisburg
City of Lock Haven: Clinton County
Pittsburgh
Rhode Island
Providence
South Carolina
Charleston
Williamsburg County & Lake City: Florence & Williamsburg Counties
South Dakota
Boadie & Spink Counties
Tennessee
Fayette & Haywood Counties
Memphis
Nashville
Scott County
Texas
Dallas
El Paso
San Antonio
Waco
Utah
Ogden
Vermont
Burlington
Virginia
Accomack & Northampton Counties
Norfolk
Washington
Lower Yakima County
Seattle
Tacoma
West Virginia
Central Appalachia: Braxton, Clay, Fayette, Nicholas & Roane
Counties
Huntington
McDowell County
Wisconsin
Milwaukee
[FR Doc. 95-9716 Filed 4-19-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
