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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63913-63915]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-25006]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapters I-VI

[Docket ID ED-2013-OII-0110]
RIN 1894-AA05

Proposed Priority--Promise Zones

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Proposed priority.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education (Secretary) proposes a priority 
that the Department of Education (Department) may use for any 
appropriate discretionary grant program in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and 
future years. We take this action to focus Federal financial assistance 
on expanding the number of Department programs and projects that 
support activities in designated Promise Zones.
    This action will permit all offices in the Department to use this 
priority, as appropriate, in any discretionary grant competition.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before November 25, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments by fax or email. 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 This Site.''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about these proposed regulations, address 
them to Jane Hodgdon, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue 
SW., Room 4W219, LBJ, Washington, DC 20202-3970.

    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 they wish to make 
publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Hodgdon. Telephone: 202-453-6620. 
Or by email: Jane.Hodgdon@ed.gov.
    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: We invite you to submit comments regarding 
this proposed priority.
    We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific 
requirements of Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 and their overall 
requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result from this 
proposed priority. Please let us know of any further ways we could 
reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while preserving 
the effective and efficient administration of the program.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this notice by accessing Regulations.gov. You may also 
inspect the comments in person in room 4W335, 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 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 rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an 
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3, 3474.
    PROPOSED PRIORITY:
    Background:
    The Secretary proposes a priority that the Department may use, as 
appropriate, for discretionary grant competitions in FY 2014 and future 
years. This priority will allow the Department and, by extension, 
program participants to focus limited Federal resources in designated 
Promise Zones. The Secretary recognizes that this priority will not be 
appropriate for all discretionary grant programs.
    A child's zip code should never determine his or her destiny; but 
today, the neighborhood a child grows up in affects his or her odds of 
graduating from high school, health outcomes, and lifetime economic 
opportunities. Collaborative efforts among private businesses and 
Federal, State, and local officials; faith-based and non-profit 
organizations; and families, children, and students can help change 
these odds and ensure that all children have the opportunity to earn a 
decent living when they reach adulthood.
    Since 2009, the President has provided tools to combat poverty, 
investing more than $350 million in 100 of the Nation's persistent 
pockets of poverty. Building on those efforts, the President has 
announced an initiative to designate, over the next 4 years, 20 high-
poverty communities as ``Promise Zones'' where the Federal government 
will partner with, and invest in,

[[Page 63914]]

communities to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase 
economic activity, improve educational opportunities, and improve 
public safety. Co-led by the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban 
Development, Education, Agriculture, and Justice, Promise Zones are 
part of the President's Ladders of Opportunity plan to ensure that 
hard-working Americans make it to the middle class.
    Promise Zones will align the work of multiple Federal programs in 
high-poverty urban, rural, and tribal communities that have both 
substantial needs and a strong, evidence-based plan to address them. 
The five primary goals of Promise Zones are creating jobs, increasing 
economic activity, improving educational opportunities, reducing 
violent crime, and leveraging private investment. The initiative builds 
on lessons learned from existing place-based programs, such as the 
Department's Promise Neighborhoods program.
    In order to be designated as a Promise Zone, communities must 
demonstrate the strength and effectiveness of their local commitment 
through a competitive, transparent process managed by the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture. Designated Promise Zones must identify a set of outcomes 
they will pursue to revitalize their communities, develop a strategy to 
achieve and sustain those outcomes, and realign local, State, Federal 
and, as applicable, private resources accordingly. The Federal 
government will partner with the Promise Zones to help them access the 
resources and expertise they need, including the resources from the 
President's signature revitalization initiatives to ensure that Federal 
programs and resources support the efforts to transform these 
communities. Specifically, Promise Zones will: Receive Promise Zones 
tax incentives, if enacted by Congress, to stimulate hiring and 
business investment; benefit from an intensive Federal partnership 
through collaboration with Federal staff to provide specialized 
technical assistance; and have increased access to additional 
investments that further the goals of job creation, additional private 
investments, increased economic activity, improved educational 
opportunity, and reduction in violent crime.
    For calendar year 2013, only communities that have previously been 
granted funds under one of a related set of Federal programs (Choice 
Neighborhoods, Promise Neighborhoods, Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation 
grants, Stronger Economies Together, Rural Jobs Accelerator, and 
Sustainable Housing and Communities) will be eligible to apply to the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development for designation as Promise 
Zones. Each of these programs is nationally competitive, and 
participation indicates a level of capacity among local institutions 
that promotes the success of Promise Zones.
    In calendar year 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development is planning to propose for public comment eligibility 
requirements and selection criteria for future Promise Zones 
competitions. (For additional information about eligibility for a 
Promise Zone designation, draft selection criteria for 2013, and the 
selection process, please visit the Promise Zones Web page: 
www.hud.gov/promisezones. The Department of Housing and Urban 
Development published a notice estimating the burden for applying for a 
2013 Promise Zones designation in the Federal Register on August 7, 
2013 (78 FR 48182).)
    To ensure that the Department's discretionary grant programs can 
provide, where appropriate, the increased access to additional 
investments for Promise Zones, the Secretary proposes a priority for 
projects that will serve and coordinate with a federally designated 
Promise Zone.
    Proposed Priority--Promise Zones.
    Projects that are designed to serve and coordinate with a federally 
designated Promise Zone.
    Types of Priorities: When inviting applications for a competition 
using one or more priorities, we designate the type of each priority as 
absolute, competitive preference, or invitational through a notice in 
the Federal Register. The effect of each type of priority follows:
    Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, we consider only 
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
    Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference 
priority, we give competitive preference to an application by (1) 
awarding additional points, depending on the extent to which the 
application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) 
selecting an application that meets the priority over an application of 
comparable merit that does not meet the priority (34 CFR 
75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
    Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority, we are 
particularly interested in applications that meet the priority. 
However, we do not give an application that meets the priority a 
preference over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
    Final Priority: We will announce the final priority in a notice in 
the Federal Register. We will determine the final priority after 
considering responses to this notice and other information available to 
the Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing 
additional priorities, requirements, definitions, or selection 
criteria, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.

    Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in 
which we choose to use this priority, we invite applications through 
a notice in the Federal Register.

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563

Regulatory Impact Analysis

    Under Executive Order 12866, the Secretary must determine whether 
this regulatory action is ``significant'' and, therefore, subject to 
the requirements of the Executive order and subject to review by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Section 3(f) of Executive Order 
12866 defines a ``significant regulatory action'' as an action likely 
to result in a rule that may--
    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, 
or adversely affect a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, 
jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or 
tribal governments or communities in a material way (also referred to 
as an ``economically significant'' rule);
    (2) Create serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, 
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
the Executive order.
    This proposed regulatory action is a significant regulatory action 
subject to review by OMB under section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866.
    We have also reviewed this proposed regulatory action under 
Executive Order 13563, which supplements and explicitly reaffirms the 
principles, structures, and definitions governing regulatory review 
established in Executive Order 12866. To the extent permitted by law, 
Executive Order 13563 requires that an agency--
    (1) Propose or adopt regulations only upon a reasoned determination 
that their benefits justify their costs (recognizing that some benefits 
and costs are difficult to quantify);

[[Page 63915]]

    (2) Tailor its regulations to impose the least burden on society, 
consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives and taking into 
account--among other things and to the extent practicable--the costs of 
cumulative regulations;
    (3) In choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, select 
those approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential 
economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other 
advantages; distributive impacts; and equity);
    (4) To the extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather 
than the behavior or manner of compliance a regulated entity must 
adopt; and
    (5) Identify and assess available alternatives to direct 
regulation, including economic incentives--such as user fees or 
marketable permits--to encourage the desired behavior, or provide 
information that enables the public to make choices.
    Executive Order 13563 also requires an agency ``to use the best 
available techniques to quantify anticipated present and future 
benefits and costs as accurately as possible.'' The Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB has emphasized that these 
techniques may include ``identifying changing future compliance costs 
that might result from technological innovation or anticipated 
behavioral changes.''
    We are proposing this priority only on a reasoned determination 
that its benefits would justify its costs. In choosing among 
alternative regulatory approaches, we selected the approach that would 
maximize net benefits. Based on the analysis that follows, the 
Departments believe that this regulatory action is consistent with the 
principles in Executive Order 13563.
    We also have determined that this proposed regulatory action would 
not unduly interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the 
exercise of their governmental functions.
    In accordance with both Executive orders, the Department has 
assessed the potential costs and benefits, both quantitative and 
qualitative, of this regulatory action. The potential costs associated 
with this regulatory action are those resulting from statutory 
requirements and those we have determined as necessary for 
administering the Department's programs and activities.
    Intergovernmental Review: Some of the programs affected by this 
proposed priority are subject to 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.
    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.gpo.gov/fedsys. 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 Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site.
    You may also access document 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: October 21, 2013.
Arne Duncan,
Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2013-25006 Filed 10-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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