2816 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 1995 / Proposed Rules

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Elementary and Secondary

Education

34 CFR Part 201

Implementation of the Funding

Formula Under Part C of Title I of the

Elementary and Secondary Education

Act (ESEA)

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposal; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary of

Education for Elementary and

Secondary Education (Assistant

Secretary) proposes a method for

implementing section 1303(e)(3) of Title

I of the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESEA), as amended by

the Improving America’s Schools Act

(IASA), under which provision of

Migrant Education Program (MEP)

services during intersession periods

would be factored into calculations of

State MEP allocations for fiscal year

(FY) 1995.

The Assistant Secretary also solicits

comments on how, given the end of the

Migrant Student Record Transfer

System (MSRTS), the Department

should obtain information on the

estimated number of migratory children

residing in each State, as is required

under section 1303(e) of ESEA, in order

to make MEP allocations for FY 1996

and beyond.

DATES: Written comments must be

received on or before February 10, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments sent by mail

should be addressed to James English,

Program Analyst, Office of Migrant

Education, U.S. Department of

Education, 600 Independence Avenue,

SW., Portals Building, Room 4100,

Washington, DC 20202–6135. The

Internet address for comments is

James—English@ed.gov. The FAX

number is 202–205–0089.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James English, Office of Migrant

Education, U.S. Department of

Education, 600 Independence Avenue,

SW., Portals Building, Room 4100,

Washington, DC 20202–6135.

Telephone: (202) 260–1394. 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

State allocations under the MEP are

based on a formula that uses State perpupil expenditures and counts of the

number of eligible migratory children

residing in each State full- and parttime. Until enactment of the IASA, the

Department determined the number of

eligible migratory children residing in

each State on the basis of information

from the MSRTS on the full-timeequivalent (FTE) number of migratory

children in each State during the prior

calendar year. The MSRTS will go out

of existence on June 30, 1995. Calendar

year 1994 will be the last year for which

FTE counts of eligible migratory

children will be available from the

MSRTS. Thereafter, the Department will

have no single source of information

from the prior calendar year that can be

used for purposes of determining MEP

allocations for FY 1996 and beyond.

Section 1303(e)(3) of Title I of the

ESEA, as amended by the IASA, now

requires the Department to adjust the

number of migratory children residing

in each State full- and part-time to take

into consideration the needs of students

participating in, and the costs of

programs operating during, both

summer and intersession periods.

(Note: The Department defines intersession

periods as those periods of time when a yearround school is not in session.)

Prior law only required the Department

to make an adjustment on the basis of

programs that operated during the

summer, which the Department had

defined as May 15 through August 31.

The Department does not, at present,

have information to make adjustments

in the MEP formula based on MEP

projects that operate during intersession

periods. Moreover, the Department will

be able to implement this provision as

part of the allocation formula for FY

1995 MEP funds only if an acceptable

source of information can be found.

The Department is proposing a

method for implementing section

1303(e)(3) for FY 1995, and is requesting

public comment on the proposal and the

availability of information to implement

it (See Issue 1). With regard to changes

in allocating funds beginning with FY

1996 that stem from the end of the

MSRTS, the Department is requesting

public comment on a number of

approaches that appear to be available

(See Issue 2).

Issue 1: Adjusting the FY 1995 MEP

State Formula Allocation for Children

Participating in Programs Operated

During Intersession Periods

Subsection 1303(e)(3) of the ESEA

provides for implementation of an

intersession period adjustment for FY

1995 MEP awards. However, while the

MSRTS can provide the Department

with FTE data on the overall number

ofeligible migratory children residing in

each State and the number of those

served by the MEP in summer periods

(and this data can be adjusted to reflect

the 36-month eligibility period required

by section 1309(a) of Title I, as

amended) for purposes of FY 1995 MEP

allocations, neither MSRTS nor the

Department has similar data relating to

intersession periods.

The Department believes that an

accurate intersession period adjustment

to the FY 1995 MEP allocations can only

be made using information on migratory

student participation in intersession

periods that is comparable to data that

the MSRTS provides on counts of

migratory children served in regularterm and summer programs during

calendar year 1994. Thus, to make an

adjustment of FY 1995 MEP allocations

for intersession period participation, the

Department will need data for each

State on the FTE number of migratory

children served by MEP projects, in

calendar year 1994, in those intersession

periods that occur outside the period,

from May 15 to August 31, 1994, for

which a summer adjustment is already

being made. Additionally, these FTE

counts will need to reflect only those

migratory children who are eligible

based on the 36-month eligibility period

required by section 1309(a) of Title I, as

amended.

The Department invites comments

from the public, especially SEA staff, as

to the availability of these data and any

other options for adjusting the FY 1995

MEP allocation accurately to reflect

participation by migratory children in

intersession period MEP programs.

Issue 2: Collection of Migratory

Childcount Data for FY 1996 and

Thereafter, Given the End of the

MSRTS

While FTE data from calendar year

1994 (including the summer

adjustment) will be available to the

Department in order to make the FY

1995 MEP allocations, the pending end

of the MSRTS in 1995 requires the

Department and States receiving MEP

funds to utilize a new procedure to

allocate MEP funds appropriated for FY

1996 and later.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 11, 1995 / Proposed Rules 2817

The Department believes that any

future procedure for determining State

MEP allocations should be simple and

cost-efficient. Possible approaches

include, but are not necessarily limited

to, the following:

• States could report standard data—

either at several points in the year,

annually, or perhaps once every few

years—on an unduplicated count of

eligible migratory children identified as

residing in the State during a given year.

These data could be collected and

reviewed (subject to audit) for accuracy

relatively easily by counting the

children listed as eligible on the

Certificates of Eligibility (COEs) that the

State and its operating agencies will

continue to use to document eligibility.

(The COE is a legal document,

completed by an individual authorized

by the State to recruit for the MEP,

which contains information explaining

the basis on which a particular child has

been determined to be a migratory

child.) States would have to make sure

that a child listed on COEs maintained

by two different local agencies is

counted only once for the regular year

(or period)—to ensure that an

unduplicated count is reported.

Similarly, unique counts of children

present during the summer or

intersession periods could also be

compiled by the States based on COEs

(or other data on participants

maintained by the State or its

subgrantees).

• The Department could continue to

use the calendar year 1994 FTE data

from MSRTS to make allocations in FY

1996 and, perhaps, for subsequent years.

Using 1994 data for making allocations

in more than one fiscal year would be

cost-effective and would require less

burden on State and local agencies than

collecting and reporting participation

data annually. Other Federal programs,

such as Title I, Part A, always have used

data collected in one year to allocate

funds in more than one subsequent

fiscal year.

• States might report, annually or

periodically, an unduplicated count of

migratory children served in Title I, Part

C programs during the regular school

term, and in summer or intersession

periods in a prior year. These data

would be similar to those the States now

submit for MEP participation reports.

• The Department could commission

periodic national surveys of the

population of migratory children in

sufficient detail to yield estimates of the

number of these children who reside in

each State.

The Assistant Secretary invites

comments on the above approaches, as

well as recommendations (with

justifications) for other possible options.

Invitation to Comment

The Department solicits the views of

interested parties, particularly parents

of migratory students, and those State

and local administrators and teachers

who serve migratory children under the

MEP. The Assistant Secretary requests

that each commenter identify his or her

role in education and the perspective

from which he or she views the

educational system—either as a

representative of an association, agency,

or school (public or private), or as an

individual teacher, parent or public

citizen. The Assistant Secretary urges

each commenter to be specific regarding

his or her recommendations.

All comments submitted in response

to this notice will be available for public

inspection during and after the

comment period in room 4100 Portals

Building, 1250 Maryland Ave., SW.,

Washington, DC, between the hours of

8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday

through Friday of each week, except

Federal holidays.

(Program Authority: Section 1303(e) of Title

I of the ESEA, as amended.)

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Number: 84.011, Migratory Education Basic

State Formula Grant Program)

Dated: January 3, 1995.

Thomas W. Payzant,

Assistant Secretary for Elementary and

Secondary Education.

[FR Doc. 95–604 Filed 1–10–95; 8:45 am]

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