Rule2023-21852
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period With Funding for Innovative Rehabilitation Training Grants
Primary source
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Published
October 3, 2023
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. The proposed waiver and extension would enable seven projects under Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.263C to receive funding for an additional period, not to exceed September 30, 2025.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 67955-67957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21852]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter III
[ED-2023-OSERS-0177]
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period With Funding
for Innovative Rehabilitation Training Grants
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
(OSERS), Department of Education.
ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of project period with funding.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally
prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period
extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. The
proposed waiver and extension would enable seven projects under
Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.263C to receive funding for an
additional period, not to exceed September 30, 2025.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before November 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. However, if you require an accommodation
or cannot otherwise submit your comments via <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>,
please contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments submitted
after the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition, please
include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under
``FAQ.''
Privacy Note: OSERS's policy is generally to make comments received
from members of the public available for public viewing in their
entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Therefore, commenters should include in their comments only information
about themselves that they wish to make publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Rhinehart-Fernandez, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 4A111,
Washington, DC 20202-5076. Telephone: (202) 245-6103. Email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#773c051e0403121959251f1e19121f16050337121359101801"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aee5dcc7dddacbc080fcc6c7c0cbc6cfdcdaeecbca80c9c1d8">[email protected]</span></a>.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
this proposed waiver and extension. To ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in developing the notice of final waiver and extension,
we urge you to identify clearly the specific grantee or grantees
(listed in the table under the Background section) that each comment
addresses.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14094 and their
[[Page 67956]]
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result
from the proposed waiver and extension. Please let us know of any
further ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential
benefits while preserving the effective and efficient administration of
the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect public
comments about the proposed priority and definition by accessing
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>.
Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for the proposed waiver and extension. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or
auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background
On July 5, 2019, the Department of Education (Department) published
in the Federal Register (84 FR 32135) a notice inviting applications
for the Innovative Rehabilitation Training Program under ALN 84.263C to
develop (a) new types of training programs for rehabilitation personnel
and to demonstrate the effectiveness of these new types of training
programs for rehabilitation personnel in providing rehabilitation
services to individuals with disabilities; (b) new and improved methods
of training rehabilitation personnel so that there may be a more
effective delivery of rehabilitation services to individuals with
disabilities by designated State rehabilitation agencies and designated
State rehabilitation units or other public or non-profit rehabilitation
service agencies or organizations; and (c) new innovative training
programs for vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals and
paraprofessionals to have a 21st-century understanding of the evolving
labor force and the needs of individuals with disabilities so they can
more effectively provide VR services to individuals with disabilities.
The Innovative Rehabilitation Training Program funded in 2019
included six topic areas: (1) VR counseling, (2) VR services to
individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, (3) VR services to
individuals with intellectual disabilities, (4) career assessment for
VR service recipients, (5) employer engagement in the VR process, and
(6) a field-initiated project in an area related to VR. The project
periods started on October 1, 2019, and will conclude on September 30,
2024. A table listing the FY 2019 projects and topic areas follows.
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FY 2019 awards under ALN
84.263C Grantee project name/topic area
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H263C190004.................. Emporia State University: Enhancing VR
Professionals' Services to Consumers on
the Spectrum/VR Services to Individuals
with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
H263C190006.................. South Carolina State University:
Innovative Career and Assessment Project
(ICAP)/Career Assessment for VR Service
Recipients.
H263C190007.................. The George Washington University Center
for Rehabilitation Counseling Research
and Education: Center for Innovative
Training in Vocational Rehabilitation
(CIT-VR)/VR Counseling.
H263C190011.................. Institute for Community Inclusion,
University of Massachusetts Boston: It's
Employment/VR Services to Individuals
with Intellectual Disabilities.
H263C190012.................. Institute for Community Inclusion,
University of Massachusetts Boston:
Program on Innovative Rehabilitation
Training on Employer Engagement (PIRTEE)/
Employer Engagement.
H263C190013.................. West Virginia University Research
Corporation: AIR4VR/Field-Initiated.
H263C190015.................. University of Memphis Institute on
Disability: Finding Innovative
Rehabilitation Services Training (FIRST)/
VR Services to Individuals with
Intellectual Disabilities.
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In FY 2020, the Department funded two projects under the Innovative
Rehabilitation Training program (ALN 84.263E and 84.263F) to develop a
new or substantially improved and, to the extent possible, evidence-
based training program, including stand-alone modules and instructional
materials to be incorporated into an existing academic degree program
for educating VR counselors or other VR professionals and VR
paraprofessionals or into short-term training for VR professionals, or
both. Topics addressed by these projects are assisting and supporting
individuals with disabilities pursuing self-employment, business
ownership, and telecommuting and forensic rehabilitation and vocational
evaluation. The project periods started on October 1, 2020, and will
conclude on September 30, 2025.
Waivers and Extensions
The Department proposes to extend the project end dates of the
seven currently 84.263C Innovative Rehabilitation Training projects by
one year to align those dates with that of the awards funded under ALN
84.263E and 84.263F, which will each receive their final year of
funding in FY 2024, and end on September 30, 2025. Due to the
overlapping goals of these three programs, the Department does not
believe that it would be in the public interest to run a competition
for ALN 84.263C in FY 2024. Rather, aligning the projects' periods of
performance end dates for ALN 84.263C, 84.263E, and 84.263F would
reduce financial and administrative burden by allowing the Department
to conduct a single competition for all 84.263C, 84.263E, and 84.263F
grants in FY 2025, with a five-year performance period that would run
from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2030.
As a result, for these projects, the Secretary proposes to waive
the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods
exceeding five years, as well as the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a)
and (c)(2), which allow the extension of a project period only if the
extension does not involve the obligation of additional Federal funds.
The waiver would allow the Department to issue a one-time one-year FY
2024 continuation award to the seven currently funded 84.263C projects
up to the amount awarded to the projects in FY 2023 and subject to the
ability of the projects to use the funds.
Any activities carried out during the year of this continuation
award must be consistent with, or a logical extension of, the scope,
goals, and objectives of the grantees' applications as approved in the
FY 2019 competition. The requirements for continuation awards are set
forth in 34 CFR 75.253.
Intergovernmental Review
These programs are subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies
[[Page 67957]]
on processes developed by State and local governments for coordination
and review of proposed Federal financial assistance.
This document provides early notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The only entities that would be
affected by the proposed waiver and extension of the project period are
the seven current ALN 84.263C grantees.
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension
would not have a significant economic impact on these entities, because
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require
unnecessary Federal supervision.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period
does not contain any information collection requirements.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible
format.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at <a href="http://www.govinfo.gov">www.govinfo.gov</a>. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Glenna Wright-Gallo,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2023-21852 Filed 9-29-23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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