11866 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 41 / Thursday, March 2, 1995 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Bilingual Education: Comprehensive

School Grants

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority for

fiscal year (FY) 1996 and following

years.

SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes a

priority for FY 1996 and following years

under the Bilingual Education:

Comprehensive School Grants program

authorized in title VII of the Elementary

and Secondary Education Act of 1965,

as amended (the Act). The Secretary

takes this action to implement a

provision of the Act by focusing Federal

financial assistance on an identified

national need. The priority is intended

to provide financial assistance to those

local educational agencies (LEAs) or

LEAs in collaboration with institutions

of higher education (IHEs), communitybased organizations (CBOs), other LEAs,

or a State educational agency (SEA)

proposing projects that will serve

schools with significant concentrations

of limited English proficient (LEP)

students.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before April 3, 1995.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning

this proposed priority should be

addressed to: Harry Logel, U.S.

Department of Education, 600

Independence Ave., SW., Room 5090,

Switzer Building, Washington, DC

20202–6510. 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Harry Logel. Telephone: (202) 205–

5530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Comprehensive School Grants program

is a new program. Under section 7114(a)

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.

To assist those schools with

significant concentrations of LEP

children and youth, the Secretary

proposes to require that to be eligible for

funding the project must serve only

schools in which the number of LEP

students, in each school served, equals

at least 25 percent of the total student

enrollment. By using a 25 percent

threshold the Secretary is targeting

those schools in which LEP students

constitute a major portion of the school

population. The Secretary chose a

percentage threshold rather than a

number threshold to include schools

with small student enrollments. Using

the 25 percent threshold, approximately

4,400 schools would be eligible to

participate under this program. These

numbers are based on data from the

Descriptive Study of Services to LEP

Students conducted by Development

Associates, Inc., in 1993.

The Secretary will announce the final

priority for FY 1996 and following years

in a notice in the Federal Register at a

later date. The final priority for FY 1996

and following years will be determined

by response 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 priority,

and the quality of the applications

received. The publication of this

proposed priority does not preclude the

Secretary from proposing additional

priorities, nor does it limit the Secretary

to funding only this priority, subject to

meeting applicable rulemaking

requirements.

Note: This notice of proposed priority does

not solicit applications. A notice inviting

applications under this competition for FY

1996 will be published in the Federal

Register following publication of the notice

of final priority. A notice of final priority for

FY 1995 for this program is published

elsewhere in this issue of the Federal

Register.

Priority

Under section 7114(a) of the Act, the

Secretary proposes to give an absolute

preference to applications that meet the

following priority. The Secretary

proposes to fund under this competition

only applications that meet this absolute

priority:

Projects that serve only schools in

which the number of LEP students, in

each school served, equals at least 25

percent of the total student enrollment.

Intergovernmentary 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 this proposed priority.

All comments submitted in response

to this notice will be available for public

inspection, during and after the

comment period, in Room 5611, 330 C

Street, SW., Washington, D.C., between

the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.,

Monday through Friday of each week

except Federal holidays.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7424.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number 84.290 Bilingual Education:

Comprehensive School Grants.)

Dated: February 6, 1995.

Eugene E. Garcia,

Director, Office of Bilingual Education and

Minority Languages Affairs.

[FR Doc. 95–5037 Filed 3–1–95; 8:45 am]

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