Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 77 / Thursday, April 23, 2009 / Notices 18567 

Procedure Act for rules concerning 

public property, loans, grants, benefits, 

or contracts (5 U.S.C. 533(a)(2)). Because 

notice and opportunity for comment are 

not required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 533 or 

any other law, the analytical 

requirements of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are 

inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory 

flexibility analysis is not required and 

has not been prepared. 

Dated: April 17, 2009. 

Efrain Gonzalez, 

Chief, Office of Business Development, 

Minority Business Development Agency. 

[FR Doc. E9–9296 Filed 4–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–21–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Department of Education. 

ACTION: Correction notice. 

SUMMARY: On April 15, 2009, the 

Department of Education published a 

comment period notice in the Federal 

Register (Page 17459, Column 1) for the 

information collection, ‘‘Documents 

Associated with the Notice of Terms 

and Conditions of Additional Purchase 

of Loans under the ‘‘Ensuring Continued 

Access to Student Loans Act of 2008’’. 

This notice amends the total annual 

responses to 8,395. The IC Clearance 

Official, Regulatory Information 

Management Services, Office of 

Management, hereby issues a correction 

notice as required by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995. 

Dated: April 20, 2009. 

Angela C. Arrington, 

IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information 

Management Services, Office of Management. 

[FR Doc. E9–9316 Filed 4–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Office of Innovation and Improvement; 

Overview Information; DC School 

Choice Incentive Program; Notice 

Inviting Applications for New Awards 

for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

(CFDA) Number: 84.370A. 

Dates: 

Applications Available: April 23, 

2009. 

Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: 

May 8, 2009. 

Deadline for Transmittal of 

Applications: May 26, 2009. 

Full Text of Announcement 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

Purpose of Program: The DC School 

Choice Incentive Program, established 

under the DC School Choice Incentive 

Act of 2003 (Act), provides low-income 

parents residing in the District of 

Columbia (District) with expanded 

options for the education of their 

children. 

Background: For FY 2009, the 

Department will be awarding one grant 

on a competitive basis to an eligible 

applicant to continue a scholarship 

program to provide students who 

currently have scholarships under this 

program with scholarships for the 2009– 

2010 school year. Students are eligible 

to receive scholarships under this 

program if they (1) are residents of the 

District, and (2) come from households 

whose income does not exceed 200 

percent (or, in the case of an eligible 

student whose first year of participation 

in the program was an academic year 

ending in June 2005 or June 2006 and 

whose second or succeeding year is an 

academic year ending on or before June 

2009, 300 percent) of the poverty line. 

These scholarships may be used to pay 

tuition and fees and transportation 

expenses, if any, to enable students to 

attend a participating District nonpublic 

elementary or secondary school. 

Under the absolute priority 

established in this notice, funds 

awarded under this competition may 

only be used to award scholarships to 

students currently participating in this 

program. Accordingly, in addition to the 

requirements described in the preceding 

paragraph, to be eligible for a 

scholarship for the 2009–2010 school 

year, a student must currently be 

receiving a scholarship through the DC 

School Choice Incentive Program. 

We are establishing this absolute 

priority in light of the prohibition in 

Public Law 111–8, the Omnibus 

Appropriations Act, 2009, against using 

funds appropriated under that law, or 

any other law, for scholarships under 

this program after the conclusion of the 

2009–2010 school year and the direction 

in the Joint Explanatory Statement for 

Public Law 111–8 to limit scholarships 

for 2009–2010 to students who are 

currently receiving scholarships under 

this program. Specifically, Public Law 

111–8 provides, with respect to this 

program that ‘‘use of any funds in this 

Act or any other [law] for opportunity 

scholarships after school year 2009– 

2010 shall only be available upon 

enactment of reauthorization of that 

program by Congress and the adoption 

of legislation by the District of Columbia 

approving such reauthorization.’’ In 

addition, the Joint Explanatory 

Statement for Public Law 111–8 directs 

that ‘‘[f]unding provided for the private 

scholarship program shall be used for 

currently-enrolled participants rather 

than new applicants.’’ The Chancellor of 

the District of Columbia Public Schools 

is directed to ‘‘promptly take steps to 

minimize potential disruption and 

ensure smooth transition for any 

students seeking enrollment in the 

public school system as a result of any 

changes made to the private scholarship 

program affecting periods after school 

year 2009–2010.’’ See the Joint 

Explanatory Statement, Division D, Title 

VIII, Federal Payment for School 

Improvement, at http://thomas.loc.gov/ 

home/approp/app09.html. 

Priorities: We are establishing this 

priority for the FY 2009 grant 

competition only in accordance with 

section 437(d)(2) of the General 

Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 

U.S.C. 1232(d)(2). 

Absolute Priority: For FY 2009, this 

priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 

CFR 75.105(c)(3) we consider only 

applications that meet this priority. 

This priority is: 

Scholarships for Currently Enrolled 

Participants During the 2009–2010 

School Year. 

Scholarship funds must be used to 

provide scholarships during the 2009– 

2010 school year only to currently 

enrolled participants who are DC 

residents and meet the eligibility 

requirements related to family income. 

Funds awarded under this competition 

may not be used to provide scholarships 

for new applicants or for current 

scholarship recipients after the 2009– 

2010 school year. 

Waiver of Proposed Rulemaking: 

Under the Administrative Procedure Act 

(5 U.S.C. 553), the Department generally 

offers interested parties the opportunity 

to comment on proposed priorities, 

selection criteria, and non-statutory 

requirements. Section 437(d)(2) of 

GEPA, however, allows the Secretary to 

exempt from rulemaking requirements, 

regulations where application of those 

requirements will cause extreme 

hardship to the intended beneficiaries of 

the program. Conducting notice-andcomment rulemaking for the absolute 

priority, selection criteria, and nonstatutory requirement (in section 

III.3.(c)) established in this notice would 

preclude timely implementation of this 

program for the 2009–2010 school year 

and, thereby, cause extreme hardship to 

the intended beneficiaries of this 

program, namely those students who are 

currently receiving scholarships under 

this program and are eligible to receive 

scholarships in the 2009–2010 school 


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