Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 87977 

defined in § 97.1002 has passed by 

holding instead in the source’s 

compliance account an equal number of 

CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Expanded 

Group 2 allowances for the control 

period in the current year. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25501 Filed 11–5–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

41 CFR Chapter 302 

[Notice-MA–2025–01; Docket No. 2024– 

0002; Sequence No. 50] 

Federal Travel Regulation (FTR); 

Relocation Allowances—Waiver of 

Certain Federal Travel Regulation 

(FTR) Provisions Regarding 

Reimbursement of Relocation 

Expenses for Residential Realtor 

Broker Fees or Real Estate 

Commissions 

AGENCY: Office of Government-wide 

Policy (OGP), General Services 

Administration (GSA). 

ACTION: Notification of GSA Bulletin 

FTR 25–03. 

SUMMARY: GSA Bulletin FTR 25–03 

informs Federal agencies that certain 

provisions of the FTR governing official 

relocation entitlements for residence 

transactions are temporarily waived in 

light of practice changes in the 

residential real estate industry that 

affect broker compensation. 

DATES: Applicability Date: This 

notification is effective upon the date of 

signature and retroactively applies to 

buyer broker fees/real estate 

commissions incurred by an employee 

on and after August 17, 2024, in 

connection with the purchase of a 

residence at the new official station 

incident to their relocation. This 

bulletin will remain in effect until 

explicitly canceled or superseded. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Rick Miller at 202–501–3822, or Ms. Jill 

Denning at 202–208–7642, Office of 

Government-wide Policy, Office of 

Asset and Transportation Management, 

or by email at travelpolicy@gsa.gov. 

Please cite Notice of GSA Bulletin FTR 

25–03. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Prior to August 17, 2024, the 

customary practice in residential real 

estate transactions was for only the 

seller to pay a broker fee or commission. 

The seller’s agent would then split the 

fee/commission with the buyer’s agent 

upon sale of the home. As a result of 

changes to the residential real estate 

industry that went into effect on August 

17, 2024, homebuyers now sign an 

agreement with their agent specifying 

the amount or rate of compensation the 

agent will receive, or how this amount 

will be determined. While sellers and 

their agents can still offer to pay a 

buyer’s agent fee/commission, that 

exchange must be separately bargained 

for. This means that in some 

transactions, homebuyers will be 

required to pay the full buyer’s agent 

fee/commission. 

At present, eligible relocating Federal 

employees are reimbursed for the 

broker’s fee or real estate commission 

they paid in the sale of their residence 

at the last official station pursuant to 41 

CFR 302–11.200(a). However, 41 CFR 

302–11.202(b) prohibits reimbursement 

for broker fees or commissions paid in 

connection with the purchase of a home 

at the new official station. Accordingly, 

OGP is temporarily waiving language in 

41 CFR 302–11.200(a) and 302– 

11.202(b) to allow agencies to 

retroactively reimburse eligible 

relocating employees for buyer broker 

fees/real estate commissions incurred by 

an employee on and after August 17, 

2024, in connection with the purchase 

of a residence at the new official station 

incident to their relocation. 

GSA Bulletin FTR 25–03 can be 

viewed at https://www.gsa.gov/ 

ftrbulletins. 

Mehul Parekh, 

Acting Associate Administrator, Office of 

Government-wide Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25815 Filed 11–5–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–14–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

45 CFR Part 1304 

RIN 0970–AD09 

Head Start Program CLASS 

Implementation Date Delay 

AGENCY: Office of Head Start (OHS), 

Administration for Children and 

Families (ACF), Department of Health 

and Human Services (HHS). 

ACTION: Final rule; delay of 

implementation date. 

SUMMARY: This final rule describes how 

the Office of Head Start officially delays 

the date for programs to meet the new 

competitive threshold for the 

Instructional Support domain of the 

Classroom Assessment Scoring System 

(CLASS®) used to determine whether a 

Head Start agency will be subject to an 

open competition under the Designation 

Renewal System (DRS). The 

implementation date in the Head Start 

Program Performance Standards that 

raises the CLASS® Instructional Support 

competitive threshold from 2.3 to 2.5 

was August 1, 2025. This final rule 

officially delays this implementation 

date to August 1, 2027. 

DATES: 

Effective date: This final rule is 

effective on November 6, 2024. 

Implementation date: The 

implementation date for the increased 

CLASS® Instructional Support 

competitive threshold of 2.5 as 

described in 45 CFR 1304.11(c)(1)(iii) is 

delayed until August 1, 2027. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jessica Bialecki, Office of Head Start, 

202–240–3901 or Jessica.Bialecki@

acf.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Table of Abbreviations 

II. Executive Summary 

III. Background and Purpose 

A. Background and History 

B. Authority 

C. Basis and Purpose of Regulatory Action 

IV. Discussion of Elements of the Final Rule 

V. Waiver of Notice and Comment Process 

VI. Regulatory Process Matters 

VII. Regulatory Impact Analysis 

I. Table of Abbreviations 

ACF—Administration for Children and 

Families 

CLASS®—Classroom Assessment 

Scoring System 

DRS—Designation Renewal System 

HHS—U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services 

HSPPS—Head Start Program 

Performance Standards 

OHS—Office of Head Start 

II. Executive Summary 

This final rule describes how the 

Office of Head Start (OHS) officially 

delays the date for programs to meet the 

new competitive threshold for the 

Instructional Support domain of the 

Classroom Assessment Scoring System 

(CLASS®) used to determine whether a 

Head Start agency will be subject to an 

open competition under the Designation 

Renewal System (DRS). The 

implementation date in the Head Start 

Program Performance Standards 

(HSPPS) that raises the CLASS®

Instructional Support competitive 

threshold from 2.3 to 2.5 was August 1, 

2025. This final rule officially delays 


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87978 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

1See section 641A(a)(1) and (2) of the Act. 

this implementation date to August 1, 

2027. The 2.3 competitive threshold that 

was established through regulation in 

2020 has not yet been fully 

implemented due to a pause in CLASS®

observations during the COVID–19 

pandemic. Therefore, the fiscal year 

2024 (FY24) OHS monitoring cycle 

(2023–2024 program year) was the first 

time the 2.3 competitive threshold is 

fully implemented. The graduated 

approach established by the 2020 rule 

was put in place to allow sufficient time 

for grant recipients to make necessary 

quality improvements. However, the 

unexpected pause in CLASS®

observations due to the pandemic 

shortened the 5-year implementation 

time frame to less than 2 years. This 

decision to delay the Instructional 

Support competitive threshold increase 

is also based on OHS’ anticipated 

timeline for adopting an updated 

CLASS® tool—CLASS® 2nd Edition— 

and the associated training, technical 

assistance, and certification procedures 

required for both OHS and Head Start 

programs to implement this revised tool. 

III. Background and Purpose 

A. Background and History 

OHS provides grant awards to local 

public and private non-profit and forprofit agencies to provide 

comprehensive education and child 

development services to economically 

disadvantaged children, birth to age 

five, and their families, to help young 

children develop the skills they need to 

be successful in school. The HSPPS 

define requirements grant recipients 

must meet to operate high quality Head 

Start programs. The HSPPS also provide 

a structure for OHS to monitor and 

enforce quality standards. One of these 

requirements is that programs meet or 

exceed a threshold score on each of 

three domains measured by the 

CLASS®. The CLASS® is an observation 

instrument that assesses the quality of 

teacher-child interactions in centerbased preschool classrooms. The three 

domains of the CLASS® include: 

Emotional Support, Classroom 

Organization, and Instructional Support. 

A grant recipient is subject to an open 

competition if their average score across 

all classrooms observed is below the 

competitive threshold on any of these 

three domains. In 2020, OHS published 

a final rule establishing an increased 

competitive threshold of 2.3 for the 

Instructional Support domain through 

July 31, 2025. However, this threshold 

is being fully implemented for the first 

time during the FY24 monitoring cycle, 

due to delays caused by the COVID–19 

pandemic. As described in 45 CFR 

1304.11(c)(1)(iii), the competitive 

threshold for this domain would have 

further increased to 2.5 on August 1, 

2025. This timeline was initially 

developed prior to the COVID–19 

pandemic, to allow programs more time 

to ramp up the Instructional Support 

threshold for accountability. This 

notification officially extends the 

implementation deadline for the 

increased Instructional Support 

competitive threshold of 2.5 to August 

1, 2027. Accordingly, the lower 

competitive threshold of 2.3 will be in 

place for CLASS® observations collected 

as part of monitoring reviews that occur 

through July 31, 2027. 

The HSPPS requires that programs are 

observed using the CLASS® as part of 

the Head Start DRS (outlined in 

§ 1304.11), and programs are required to 

meet specific thresholds for noncompetitive grant renewal. While 

individual classrooms are observed and 

scored, OHS averages scores across all 

classrooms observed for a given program 

and calculates a program-level average 

score, which is used for competition 

determination. Through at least the 

fiscal year 2025 (FY25) monitoring 

cycle, OHS is using the 2008 version of 

the CLASS®, which consists of three 

domains: Emotional Support, Classroom 

Organization, and Instructional Support. 

The current thresholds for competition 

are 5, 5, and 2.3, respectively. Since 

OHS did not conduct CLASS® reviews 

for two years due to the COVID–19 

pandemic, the 2020 final rule that 

established the new Instructional 

Support threshold of 2.3 was 

implemented for the first time in FY24. 

This final rule provides an extended 

timeframe for increasing the 

Instructional Support competitive 

threshold and gives OHS sufficient time 

to fully implement the 2.3 threshold 

before it increases to 2.5. 

Further, in 2022, Teachstone, the 

company that owns the CLASS® tool, 

published CLASS® 2nd Edition. The 

second edition of the CLASS® tool is 

described as a more inclusive and 

equitable approach to observing adultchild interactions in the classroom. As 

a result, several, but not all, Head Start 

programs are opting to re-train program 

staff members on CLASS® 2nd Edition 

for their own professional development 

and classroom quality tracking 

purposes. This process requires 

additional time, as well as training and 

technical assistance support materials, 

to take the new certification test. 

However, for OHS to shift its entire 

oversight and technical assistance 

systems to CLASS® 2nd Edition, there 

needs to be a substantial scale-up of the 

training and certification processes that 

Teachstone and the Head Start technical 

assistance network provide. A number 

of these training supports have not yet 

been available at the capacity needed for 

a universal shift by OHS and the Head 

Start community to the updated 

measure. OHS understands the urgency 

with which its oversight system must 

adapt to CLASS® 2nd Edition. However, 

due to lack of adequate supports in 

place to train the entire Head Start 

system of observers and trainers, it will 

not be possible for OHS to transition to 

CLASS® 2nd Edition prior to the date 

originally set by the 2020 final rule for 

the increase in the Instructional Support 

competitive threshold (August 1, 2025). 

B. Authority 

We publish this final rule under the 

authority granted to the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services by section 

641 (42 U.S.C. 9836) as amended by the 

Improving Head Start for School 

Readiness Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110– 

134). Under this section, the Secretary is 

required to develop a system for 

designation renewal Specifically, the 

Act requires the Secretary to ‘‘. . . 

modify, as necessary, program 

performance standards by regulation 

applicable to Head Start agencies and 

programs . . .’’ 1 This rule meets the 

statutory requirements Congress put 

forth in its 2007 bipartisan 

reauthorization of the Head Start and 

addresses Congress’s mandate that 

called for the Secretary to review and 

revise the performance standards. The 

Secretary has determined that the 

modifications to performance standards 

contained in this regulation are 

appropriate and needed to effectuate the 

goals of the performance standards and 

the purposes of the Act. 

C. Basis and Purpose of Regulatory 

Action 

In this final rule, OHS extends the 

timeline for the increased competitive 

threshold of 2.5 to August 1, 2027, to 

give programs more time to adjust to the 

Instructional Support competitive 

threshold of 2.3 that is being 

implemented for the first time in FY24, 

provide additional time to acclimate to 

the CLASS® 2nd Edition measure, and 

to strengthen ongoing technical 

assistance for program staff on the 

updated CLASS® measure. 

This extended timeframe gives OHS 

additional time to consider the 

implications of adopting CLASS® 2nd 

Edition universally and determine the 

most appropriate plan for this change, 

and to ensure that grant recipients have 

sufficient notice to adjust to and adopt 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 87979 

2 5 U.S.C. 553(b). 

this revised tool. Grant recipients will 

be provided ample notice from OHS 

before it begins using CLASS® 2nd 

Edition for monitoring purposes. 

Switching Head Start monitoring and 

technical assistance to use CLASS® 2nd 

Edition should not be implemented in 

the same year as the change in the 

competitive threshold for Instructional 

Support. This will place undue burden 

on programs and the Head Start 

monitoring and technical assistance 

system. 

Extending the implementation date 

for the increased competitive threshold 

for the Instructional Support domain 

also allows OHS to prepare relevant 

program staff and members of the Head 

Start Training and Technical Assistance 

(TTA) network to be responsive to 

program needs for TTA as they make the 

transition to CLASS® 2nd Edition. Retraining the entire Head Start TTA 

network on CLASS 2nd Edition requires 

a multiple-day, in-person or online 

training and a certification test where 

staff must score within a specific range 

to pass. OHS anticipates needing the 

time that this extension allows to ensure 

its network of observers and trainers are 

certified on CLASS® 2nd Edition. 

ACF recognizes that some Head Start 

programs are already starting to re-train 

their staff and several members of the 

TTA network have done so as well. At 

the same time, programs are learning 

and understanding what the new 

CLASS® 2nd Edition scores mean and 

how to interpret them, and the TTA 

network is learning how to provide 

follow-up TTA to support programs 

once they receive their new scores. The 

longer implementation window for the 

increased Instructional Support 

threshold allows programs and OHS to 

adjust programming, policies, and 

procedures to be responsive to this 

changing landscape. 

IV. Discussion of Elements of the Final 

Rule 

Section 1304.11 Basis for Determining 

Whether a Head Start Agency Will Be 

Subject to an Open Competition 

ACF is changing the implementation 

date for the instructional support 

competitive threshold domain increase 

to 2.5 from August 1, 2025, to August 

1, 2027. 

V. Waiver of Notice and Comment 

Process 

When engaging in rulemaking, HHS 

will ordinarily publish a notice of 

proposed rulemaking in the Federal 

Register to provide a period for public 

comment before the provisions of a rule 

take effect in accordance with section 

553(b) of the Administrative Procedure 

Act (APA).2 However, we can waive this 

notice and comment procedure if we 

find, for good cause, that the notice and 

comment process is impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest, and incorporate a statement of 

the finding and the reasons therefore in 

the notice. HHS finds good cause to 

waive public comment under section 

553(b) of the APA because it is 

unnecessary and contrary to the public 

interest to provide for public comment 

in this instance. The existing CLASS®

competitive thresholds for Head Start 

programs continue to be in effect for 

competition determinations. As such, 

the delayed implementation date poses 

no harm or burden to programs or the 

public. A period for public comment 

would have only extended programs’ 

concerns about meeting the new 

threshold by the previous 

implementation date of August 1, 2025. 

VI. Regulatory Process Matters 

We have examined the impacts of the 

final rule under Executive Order 12866, 

Executive Order 13563, Executive Order 

13132, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601–612), and the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 

104–4). Executive Orders 12866 and 

13563 direct us to assess all benefits, 

costs, and transfers of available 

regulatory alternatives and, when 

regulation is necessary, to select 

regulatory approaches that maximize 

net benefits (including potential 

economic, environmental, public health 

and safety, and other advantages; 

distributive impacts; and equity). 

Section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866, 

as amended by Executive Order 14094, 

defines a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ 

as an action that is likely to result in a 

rule: (1) Having an annual effect on the 

economy of $200 million or more, or 

adversely affecting in a material way the 

economy, a sector of the economy, 

productivity, competition, jobs, the 

environment, public health or safety, or 

State, local, territorial, or Tribal 

governments or communities; (2) 

creating a serious inconsistency or 

otherwise interfering with an action 

taken or planned by another agency; (3) 

materially altering the budgetary 

impacts of entitlement grants, user fees, 

or loan programs or the rights and 

obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) 

raising legal or policy issues for which 

centralized review would meaningfully 

further the President’s priorities or the 

principles set forth in Executive Order 

12866, as specifically authorized in a 

timely manner by the Administrator of 

the Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs in each case. The Regulatory 

Impact Analysis (RIA) for this final rule 

does not identify economic impacts that 

exceed the threshold for significance 

under Section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 

12866. 

Congressional Review Act 

Subtitle E of the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 (also known as the Congressional 

Review Act or CRA) allows Congress to 

review ‘‘major’’ rules issued by Federal 

agencies before the rules take effect, see 

5 U.S.C. 801(a). The CRA defines a 

major rule as one that has resulted, or 

is likely to result, in (1) an annual effect 

on the economy of $100 million or 

more; (2) a major increase in costs or 

prices for consumers, individual 

industries, Federal, State, or local 

government agencies, or geographic 

regions; or (3) significant adverse effects 

on competition, employment, 

investment, productivity, or innovation, 

or on the ability of United States-based 

enterprises to compete with foreignbased enterprises in domestic and 

export markets, see 5 U.S.C. 804(2). This 

action is not a major rule because it will 

not have an annual effect on the 

economy of $100 million or more. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 

see 5 U.S.C. 605(b) as amended by the 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act, requires federal agencies 

to determine, to the extent feasible, a 

rule’s impact on small entities, explore 

regulatory options for reducing any 

significant impact on a substantial 

number of such entities, and explain 

their regulatory approach. The term 

‘‘small entities,’’ as defined in the RFA, 

comprises small businesses, not-forprofit organizations that are 

independently owned and operated and 

are not dominant in their fields, and 

governmental jurisdictions with 

populations of less than 50,000. Under 

this definition, some Head Start grant 

recipients may be small entities. We 

consider a rule to have a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities if it has at least a three percent 

impact on revenue on at least five 

percent of small entities. However, the 

Secretary certifies, under 5 U.S.C. 

605(b), as enacted by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96–354), that 

this rule will not have a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. This final rule simply delays 

the date by which the threshold will 

increase for the CLASS® Instructional 

Support domain that would trigger 

competition for a Head Start grant 


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87980 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

recipient. We do not expect increased 

costs for recipients due to this delayed 

implementation date; therefore, we do 

not expect there to be a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4, section 202(a)) 

requires us to prepare a written 

statement, which includes estimates of 

anticipated impacts, before proposing 

‘‘any rule that includes any Federal 

mandate that may result in the 

expenditure by State, local, and Tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $100,000,000 or more 

(adjusted annually for inflation) in any 

one year.’’ The current threshold after 

adjustment for inflation is $183 million, 

using the most current (2023) Implicit 

Price Deflator for the Gross Domestic 

Product. This final rule will not result 

in expenditures that meet or exceed this 

amount. Head Start grant recipients 

receive over $12 billion annually in 

Federal funding to implement the 

requirements of the program, including 

changes as a result of this final rule. 

Federalism Assessment Executive Order 

13132 

Executive Order 13132 requires 

Federal agencies to consult with State 

and local government officials if they 

develop regulatory policies with 

federalism implications. Federalism is 

rooted in the belief that issues that are 

not national in scope or significance are 

most appropriately addressed by the 

level of government close to the people. 

This final rule will not have substantial 

direct impact on the States, on the 

relationship between the Federal 

Government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government. Therefore, in 

accordance with section 6 of Executive 

Order 13132, it is determined that this 

action does not have sufficient 

federalism implications to warrant the 

preparation of a federalism summary 

impact statement. 

Treasury and General Government 

Appropriations Act of 1999 

Section 654 of the Treasury and 

General Government Appropriations 

Act of 1999 requires Federal agencies to 

determine whether a policy or 

regulation may negatively affect family 

well-being. If the agency determines a 

policy or regulation negatively affects 

family well-being, then the agency must 

prepare an impact assessment 

addressing seven criteria specified in 

the law. ACF believes it is not necessary 

to prepare a family policymaking 

assessment, see Public Law 105–277, 

because the action it takes in this final 

rule will not have any impact on the 

autonomy or integrity of the family as 

an institution. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 

of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., 

minimizes government-imposed burden 

on the public. In keeping with the 

notion that government information is a 

valuable asset, it also is intended to 

improve the practical utility, quality, 

and clarity of information collected, 

maintained, and disclosed. 

The PRA requires that agencies obtain 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) approval, which includes issuing 

an OMB number and expiration date, 

before requesting most types of 

information from the public. 

Regulations at 5 CFR part 1320 

implemented the provisions of the PRA 

and § 1320.3 of this part defines a 

‘‘collection of information,’’ 

‘‘information,’’ and ‘‘burden.’’ PRA 

defines ‘‘information’’ as any statement 

or estimate of fact or opinion, regardless 

of form or format, whether numerical, 

graphic, or narrative form, and whether 

oral or maintained on paper, electronic, 

or other media (5 CFR 1320.3(h)). This 

includes requests for information to be 

sent to the government, such as forms, 

written reports and surveys, 

recordkeeping requirements, and thirdparty or public disclosures (5 CFR 

1320.3(c)). ‘‘Burden’’ means the total 

time, effort, or financial resources 

expended by persons to collect, 

maintain, or disclose information. This 

action does not include any new 

information collection requirements or 

changes to existing information 

collection requirements. 

VII. Regulatory Impact Analysis 

Need for Regulatory Action 

As summarized previously, the 2.3 

competitive threshold for the CLASS®

Instructional Support domain that was 

established through regulation in 2020 

has not yet been fully implemented due 

to a pause in CLASS® observations 

through OHS monitoring during the 

COVID–19 pandemic. Therefore, the 

FY24 OHS monitoring cycle (2023–2024 

program year) was the first year in 

which the 2.3 competitive threshold 

was fully implemented with grant 

recipients. The graduated approach 

established by the 2020 final rule was 

put in place to allow sufficient time for 

grant recipients to make necessary 

quality improvement in the 

Instructional Support domain (a domain 

in which early childhood programs 

nationally tend to score lower, relative 

to other domains of the CLASS®). 

Increasing the competitive threshold to 

2.5 in August 2025 does not allow 

sufficient time for the phase in approach 

envisioned in the 2020 final rule. 

In addition, OHS currently uses the 

2008 version of the CLASS®. But in 

2022, the developer of the CLASS® tool 

released an updated version called 

CLASS® 2nd Edition. This updated 

version is marketed as a more equitable 

and inclusive measure of teacher-child 

interactions in classroom settings. As a 

result, many Head Start programs are 

already re-training staff members on 

CLASS® 2nd Edition; this process 

requires additional technical assistance 

and training support materials, multiday training workshops, and additional 

time to take the new certification test, as 

well as significant costs. A number of 

these supports have not yet been 

available at the capacity or scale needed 

for a universal shift by OHS’s 

monitoring system to the updated 

version of the tool. In addition, it will 

take time to ensure all OHS reviewers 

are certified in the new edition, and to 

revise OHS monitoring processes, 

materials, and training to reflect 

CLASS® 2nd Edition. Accordingly, OHS 

has not yet adopted this new version of 

the tool for federal monitoring purposes 

and is continuing to use the 2008 

version of CLASS® through at least the 

FY25 monitoring cycle. However, we do 

intend to transition to CLASS® 2nd 

Edition in the future, and we want to 

provide programs with an adequate 

adjustment period with the new tool 

before making another system-wide 

change by increasing the competitive 

threshold for Instructional Support. 

Cost Savings Analysis 

There are approximately 1,900 grants 

in Head Start. Absent this final rule, the 

competitive threshold for the CLASS®

Instructional Support threshold will 

increase from a 2.3 to a 2.5 on August 

1, 2025. During the 2025–2026 program 

year, we estimate that approximately 

280 grants will receive a CLASS®

review from OHS. During the 2026– 

2027 program year, we estimate that 

approximately 400 grants will a receive 

a CLASS® review from OHS. Based on 

OHS monitoring data from CLASS®

reviews conducted during the 2023– 

2024 program year, we estimate that 

approximately seven percent of grants 

reviewed in a given year would receive 

a score below 2.3 on CLASS®

Instructional Support and 

approximately 13 percent would receive 

a score below 2.5. If we apply these 

percentages to the expected number of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 6, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 87981 

CLASS® reviews to be conducted in the 

2025–2026 and 2026–2027 program 

years, we observe the following 

approximate numbers of grants that 

would be triggered to compete under 

DRS due to their CLASS® Instructional 

Support score, either in the presence or 

absence of this final rule. 

Program year 

Grants to compete absent 

final rule 

(instructional support 

threshold = 2.5) 

Grants to compete with 

final rule 

(instructional support 

threshold = 2.3) 

2025–2026 (280 grants) ...................................................................................... 36 20 

2026–2027 (400 grants) ...................................................................................... 52 28 

Total .............................................................................................................. 88 48 

In other words, with this final rule, 

approximately 40 total fewer grants 

would be designated to compete due to 

their CLASS® Instructional Support 

scores received as a part of OHS 

monitoring during the 2025–2026 and 

2026–2027 program years. The cost for 

competition associated with completing 

a competitive application is estimated at 

$3,538 per applicant. This assumption 

includes 60 hours per competitive 

application at a cost of approximately 

$58.96 per hour in staff time (we 

multiply an hourly wage of 

approximately $29.48 by two to account 

for fringe benefits). Applications would 

likely be completed by a combination of 

the Head Start assistant director and 

other managers in an early childhood 

program (i.e., child development 

manager or family and community 

partnership manager). We base the 

average hourly wage for these positions 

on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Job Code 11–9031. We then multiply 

$3,538 per applicant by 80 to account 

for the 40 incumbent grant recipients 

applying for funds as well as 40 

nonincumbent applicants for those 

service areas. This results in a baseline 

estimated cost of $283,040 for these 40 

grant recipients to complete competitive 

applications if they did in fact have to 

compete, as well as 40 additional 

applicants. With this final rule, these 

baseline costs would not apply and are 

therefore cost savings in this analysis. 

With this final rule, those 40 grant 

recipients that would have been 

triggered to compete due to receiving a 

CLASS® Instructional Support score 

below 2.5 (but not below 2.3) would 

instead need to complete an 

noncompetitive grant application for a 

continuing annual award. We assume it 

takes approximately 33 hours of staff 

time to complete a noncompetitive 

application. Using the same 

assumptions as above for hourly wage, 

we estimate that it costs approximately 

$1,946 per grant to complete a 

noncompetitive application. We 

multiply this by 40 grants, which results 

in a total cost of approximately $77,840 

for these grant recipients to complete a 

noncompetitive continuation 

application. Taking this cost into 

account, the total cost savings 

associated with this final rule is 

approximately $205,200. This includes 

cost savings to those entities that are not 

existing Head Start recipients as there 

would be no funding opportunity to 

which they would submit a competitive 

application. 

A qualitative opportunity cost for this 

new rule is fewer opportunities for 

entities that are not existing Head Start 

grant recipients to be able to compete 

and potentially grow as an early 

childhood provider in their community, 

for the 40 communities where grants 

were not designated for competition due 

to potentially low CLASS® Instructional 

Support scores. There is also a potential 

qualitative cost of children continuing 

to be served by grant recipients who 

may be providing lower-quality 

classroom learning environments that 

would have led to competition. 

However, for all the reasons 

summarized in the preamble of this 

final rule, ACF believes there is an 

added benefit of existing grant 

recipients not experiencing undue stress 

and potential increased financial burden 

associated with the competitive 

threshold increasing from 2.3 to 2.5 in 

August 2025. Additionally, these grant 

recipients will be able to continue to 

access and receive support through 

OHS’s extensive TTA system, to 

facilitate continued quality 

improvement in classroom quality care 

and service provision for children and 

families. This RIA analyzes a 2-year 

time horizon covering FY 2026 and FY 

2027. 

Overall, ACF does not believe there 

will be a significant economic impact 

from this regulatory action since this 

final rule only delays the 

implementation date by two years for 

the CLASS® Instructional Support 

competitive threshold. 

Jeff Hild, Principal Deputy Assistant 

Secretary of the Administration for 

Children and Families, performing the 

delegable duties of the Assistant 

Secretary, approved this document on 

October 8, 2024. 

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1304 

Early learning and development, 

Education, Education of disadvantaged, 

Grant programs-social programs. 

Dated: October 28, 2024. 

Xavier Becerra, 

Secretary, Department of Health and Human 

Services. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the ACF amends 45 CFR part 

1304 as follows: 

PART 1304—FEDERAL 

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1304 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq. 

Subpart B—Designation Renewal 

■ 2. Amend § 1304.11 by revising 

paragraph (c)(1)(iii) to read as follows: 

§ 1304.11 Basis for determining whether a 

Head Start agency will be subject to an 

open competition. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(iii) For the Instructional Support 

domain, the competitive threshold is 2.3 

through July 31, 2027, and 2.5 on and 

after August 1, 2027. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2024–25440 Filed 11–5–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–40–P 


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