63692 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 238 / Tuesday, December 12, 1995 / Notices

Congress submitted pursuant to Section

618(g). Funds provided under Section

618 may be used to fund projects

proposed by applicants that are private

for-profit agencies only when necessary

because of the unique nature of the

study.

In accordance with 20 U.S.C.

7452(b)(4), funds provided under the

Bilingual Education Research,

Evaluation, and Dissemination Program

must be administered by individuals

with expertise in bilingual education

and the needs of limited English

proficient students and their families.

Funds provided under this program

must be used to improve bilingual

education and special alternative

instruction programs for children and

youth of limited English proficiency.

As part of the efforts to improve

student assessment, the Department

made awards in FY 1995 under the

Assessment Development and

Evaluation Grants Program, authorized

by section 220 of the Goals 2000:

Educate America Act. Under this

program, the Secretary provides grants

to SEAs, LEAs or partnerships of such

agencies to help defray the costs of

developing, field-testing and evaluating

State assessments aligned to State

content standards. Applications

involving 43 States were received in

1995 and grants were made to support

9 projects. The Secretary expects these

projects to develop model strategies for

the assessment of student learning that

will have a significant impact on State

and local level systemic reform efforts.

Depending on the availability of funds

in FY 1996 and subsequent years, the

Secretary may decide to use funds

under the proposed priorities to

continue projects initially funded under

the Assessment Development and

Evaluation Grants program or to fund

additional applications considered in

the 1995 competition. Alternatively, the

Secretary may decide to hold a

competition for new awards under the

proposed priorities.

The Secretary will announce the final

priorities in a notice in the Federal

Register. The final priorities will be

determined by responses to this notice,

available funds, and other

considerations of the Department.

Funding of particular projects depends

on the availability of funds, the nature

of the final priorities, and the quality of

the applications received. The

publication of these proposed priorities

does not preclude the Secretary from

proposing additional priorities, nor does

it limit the Secretary to funding only

these priorities, subject to meeting

applicable rulemaking requirements.

Note: This notice of proposed priorities

does not solicit applications. A notice

inviting applications under this competition

will be published in the Federal Register

concurrent with or following publication of

the notice of final priorities.

Proposed Absolute Priorities

Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), the

Secretary proposes to give an absolute

preference to projects that meet one or

more of the following priorities. The

Secretary proposes to fund only projects

that meet one or more of these absolute

priorities:

Proposed Absolute Priority 1—

Projects that develop, field-test, and

evaluate assessments that are aligned to

State content standards.

Proposed Absolute Priority 2—

Projects that modify, field-test, and

evaluate assessments to address the

needs of children and youth with

disabilities or limited English

proficiency. Assessments to be modified

must be those developed under priority

(1) or similar assessments developed for

all students and aligned to State content

standards.

All projects must—

(a) Examine the validity and

reliability of the assessment for the

particular purposes for which the

assessment was developed;

(b) Ensure that the assessment is

consistent with relevant, nationally

recognized professional and technical

standards for assessments;

(c) Devote special attention to how the

assessment treats all students, especially

with regard to race, gender, ethnicity,

disability, and language proficiency of

those students; and

(d) Be developed by, or under the

direction of, an SEA, LEA, or consortia

of those agencies.

Selection Criteria

With respect to new awards made

with funds from Section 618 of IDEA,

the Secretary does not intend to use the

selection criteria in 34 CFR 327.31. With

respect to any new awards made with

funds from the Bilingual Education

Research, Evaluation, and

Dissemination Program, the Secretary

does not intend to use the selection

criteria in 34 CFR 75.210. The Secretary

intends to use the evaluation criteria in

34 CFR Part 700 to select all new awards

under these priorities.

Intergovernmental Review

This program is 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 this program.

Invitation To Comment

Interested persons are invited to

submit comments and recommendations

regarding these proposed priorities.

All comments submitted in response

to this notice will be available for public

inspection, during and after the

comment period in OERI, Room 510,

555 New Jersey Avenue, Washington,

D.C., between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and

4 p.m., Monday through Friday of each

week except Federal holidays.

Applicable Program Regulations

(a) 34 CFR part 327, with the

exception of 34 CFR 327.31; and (b) the

final regulations for the Standards for

the Conduct and Evaluation of

Activities Carried Out by the Office of

Educational Research and Improvement

(OERI)—Evaluation of applications for

Grants and Cooperative Agreements and

Proposals for Contracts, published on

September 14, 1995 in the Federal

Register (60 FR 47808), to be codified as

34 CFR Part 700.

Authority: 20 U.S.C. 8001.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number 84.215L—Fund for the Improvement

of Education Program)

Dated: December 5, 1995.

Sharon P. Robinson,

Assistant Secretary for Educational Research

and Improvement.

[FR Doc. 95–30167 Filed 12–11–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

[CFDA No. 84.305F, 84.306F, 84.307F,

84.308F and 84.309F]

Office of Educational Research and

Improvement: National Institutes’

Field-Initiated Studies Grant Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice Inviting Applications for

New Awards for fiscal year (FY) 1996—

Amendment.

On September 14, 1995, the Assistant

Secretary for Educational Research and

Improvement published in the Federal

Register (60 FR 47830) a notice inviting

applications for new awards for the

National Institutes’ Field-Initiated

Studies Grant Program. This notice

amends the original information by

adding a paragraph that indicates that

the Secretary may fund two cycles of

awards from this competition.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 238 / Tuesday, December 12, 1995 / Notices 63693

In the notice inviting applications for

new awards, add the following

paragraph to the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section.

The Department may fund two cycles

of awards from these competitions.

Applications funded in the first cycle

will be awarded in June 1996 from FY

1996 funds. A second cycle of

additional applications from this

competition may be funded early in FY

1997, pending availability of FY 1997

funds, if the Secretary decides that there

are applications of sufficiently high

quality to merit funding.

Note: The Department is not bound by any

estimates in this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

National Institute on Student

Achievement, Curriculum, and

Assessment: Clara Lawson-Holmes, U.S.

Department of Education, 555 New

Jersey Avenue, N.W., Room 510,

Washington, DC 20208–5573.

Telephone: (202) 219–2079 or

clawson@inet.ed.gov. National Institute

on the Education of At-Risk Students:

Beth Fine, U.S. Department of

Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue,

N.W., Room 610, Washington, DC

20208–5521. Telephone: (202) 219–

1323, or bfine@inet.ed.gov. National

Institute on Early Childhood

Development and Education: Joe

Caliguro, U.S. Department of Education,

555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, DC 20208–5520.

Telephone: (202) 219–1935. National

Institute on Educational Governance,

Finance, Policy-Making, and

Management: Elizabeth DeBra or

Edward Fuentes, 555 New Jersey

Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20208–

5510. Telephone (202) 219–2021 or

-2032. National Institute on

Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and

Lifelong Learning: Delores Monroe, 555

New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Room 620,

Washington, DC 20208–5531.

Telephone (202) 219–2229, or

fis@inet.ed.gov.

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.

Information about the Department’s

funding opportunities, including copies

of the application notices for

discretionary grant competitions, can be

viewed on the Department’s electronic

bulletin board (ED Board), telephone

(202) 260–9950; or on the Internet

Gopher Servers at gopher.ed.gov (under

Announcements, Bulletins, and Press

Releases). However, the official

application notice for a discretionary

grant competition is the notice

published in the Federal Register.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C.

6031(c)(2)(B).

Dated: December 5, 1995.

Sharon P. Robinson,

Assistant Secretary for Educational Research

and Improvement.

[FR Doc. 95–30166 Filed 12–11–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. EL96–15–000, et al.]

Jersey Central Power & Light

Company, et al.; Electric Rate and

Corporate Regulation Filings

December 4, 1995.

Take notice that the following filings

have been made with the Commission:

1. Jersey Central Power & Light

Company

[Docket No. EL96–15–000]

Take notice that on November 13,

1995, Jersey Central Power & Light

Company tendered for filing a request

for waiver of the Commission’s

Regulations to allow JCP&L to pass back

to its wholesale customers certain

refunds, including interest.

Comment date: December 18, 1995, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

2. MidAmerican Energy Company

[Docket No. EL96–18–000]

Take notice that on November 21,

1995, MidAmerican Energy Company

(MidAmerican), filed an Application for

Approval of Depreciation Rates

pursuant to Section 302 of the Federal

Power Act and Rule 204 of the

Commission’s Rules of Practice and

Procedure.

MidAmerican is the surviving

corporation and utility of the July 1,

1995 merger of Iowa-Illinois Gas and

Electric Company with Midwest Power

Systems, Inc. and its exempt holding

company parent, Midwest Resources,

Inc. MidAmerican states that since July

1, 1995, the effective date of the merger,

MidAmerican has used the depreciation

rates used by its predecessors

immediately prior to the merger. This

practice has resulted in the application

of two different depreciation rates to

depreciable property held in the same

account. MidAmerican requests

authorization to use a single set of

electric depreciation rates for

accounting and final reporting purposes

effective of January 1, 1996.

Copies of the filing were served on the

Iowa Utilities Board, the Illinois

Commerce Commission and the South

Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

Comment date: December 19, 1995, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

3. Louisiana Public Service

Commission, Mississippi Public Service

Commission, State of Mississippi,

Arkansas Public Service Commission

and the City of New Orleans v. Systems

Energy Resources, Inc. and Entergy

Services, Inc.

[Docket No. EL96–19–000]

Take notice that on November 22,

1995, the Louisiana Public Service

Commission, the Arkansas Public

Service Commission, the Mississippi

Public Service Commission, the City of

New Orleans and the State of

Mississippi filed a Complaint under

Sections 205 and 206 of the Federal

Power Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 824d and 824e

against System Energy Resources, Inc.

and Entergy Services, Inc. The

Complaint seeks to lower the allowed

return on equity under the Entergy Unit

Power Sales Agreement upon

allegations under current circumstances,

it is unjust and unreasonable. The

Complaint contains a motion to

consolidate this proceeding with an

ongoing FERC proceeding entitled,

System Energy Resources, Inc., Docket

No. ER95–1042–000.

Comment date: January 3, 1996, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice. Answers to the

complain shall be due on or before

January 3, 1996.

4. PacifiCorp

[Docket No. ER95–1838–000]

Take notice that on November 8, 1995

and November 14, 1995 Black Hills

Power & Light Company tendered for

filing amendments in the abovereferenced docket.

Comment date: December 14, 1995, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

5. Appalachian Power Company

[Docket No. ER95–1797–000]

Take notice that on November 14,

1995, the American Electric Power

Service Corporation (AEPSC), on behalf

of Appalachian Power Company

(APCO), tendered for filing an

amendment to its filing in the abovereferenced docket.

Comment date: December 18, 1995, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.