[Federal Register: January 26, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 17)]
[Notices]
[Page 4341-4343]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26ja00-103]
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Part V
Department of Education
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Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Grants; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.314B]
Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative Grants
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of deadline for third stage of applications for
assistance under the Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative
grant authority for fiscal year 1999, and information regarding certain
cost issues for those grants.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education announces a third stage, and
deadline for that third stage, for States to apply for a fiscal year
(FY) 1999 new award under the Even Start Statewide Family Literacy
Initiative grant authority. The Secretary also provides information
about the authorization of certain pre-award costs for grant
recipients, and the applicability of the waiver authority under section
14401 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to the
requirement that only non-Federal funds be used as matching resources
for the grant.
Eligible Applicants: One State office or agency from each State,
the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, provided that the applicant
jurisdiction did not receive an award of funds in the second stage of
this FY 1999 competition.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications in Third Stage of
Competition: The deadline for State offices and agencies to submit
their Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative applications for
the third stage of this grant competition is March 31, 2000.
Available Funds: The Secretary estimates that there will be
$2,039,499 available for awards in the third stage of this FY 1999
competition.
Matching and Use of Fund Requirements: A State receiving a grant
for an Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative must make
available non-Federal contributions (cash or in-kind) in an amount at
least equal to the Federal funds awarded under the grant. These non-
Federal contributions may be from State or local resources, or both.
Grantees may not use grant funds for indirect costs, either as a direct
charge or as part of the matching requirement.
Estimated Number of Awards During Second and Third Stages of
Competition: second stage--28; third stage--6-10. (No States qualified
for awards during the first stage of this competition.)
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice. The Secretary originally estimated a total of between 40-52
awards, with an estimated average size for an award of $186,000 in
Federal funds. No states qualified for awards during the first stage
of the competition. The Secretary anticipates awarding funds to 28
recipients during the second stage of competition. Based upon these
awards, the Secretary revises the estimate of the number of total
awards to 34-38 awards for FY 1999, with an estimated 6-10 awards
during the third stage of the competition.
Project Period: 24 months (comprised of two one-year budget
periods).
Application, Absolute Priority, and Selection Criteria: The
Department will use the same application (including the absolute
priority and selection criteria) that it used for the first two stages
of this competition. That application, entitled ``Notice inviting State
applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 1999 funds for Even
Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative grants,'' was published in
the Federal Register on February 24, 1999, at 64 FR 9229. In addition,
the Notice of Final Priority for Fiscal Year 1999, published in the
Federal Register on February 24, 1999, at 64 FR 9228, will apply to
this third stage. You may obtain a copy of that application and Notice
of Final Priority for Fiscal Year 1999 from the contact person listed
below. The application and notice of final priority also are available
in the Department's on-line library at http://www.ed.gov/GrantApps/
#84.314B.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain further information, or a
copy of the application and Notice of Final Priority, contact Tanielle
Johnson, Compensatory Education Programs, Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue
SW, Washington, DC 20202-6132; telephone (202) 205-9588; or Email
tanielle--johnson@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. Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department published the FY 1999 notice
inviting applications for Even Start Statewide Family Literacy
Initiative competitive grants in the Federal Register on February 24,
1999 (64 FR 9229), and published a Notice of Final Priority for those
grants at the same time (64 FR 9228). The notice inviting applications
established two opportunities for States to submit their applications--
a first stage deadline of February 24, 1999, and a second stage
deadline of August 20, 1999, which was extended to October 15, 1999, in
the Federal Register on June 25, 1999 (64 FR 34225) to give States
additional time to prepare their applications. This notice establishes
a third opportunity for States that have not received a grant in this
competition to submit applications. The third stage deadline is March
31, 2000.
The Department recognizes that it takes States a significant amount
of time to form the required consortium of State-level programs and
build the strong working collaborations that they need to plan a high-
quality statewide family literacy initiative that realistically
addresses a State's unique educational needs. Some States have advised
the Department that they have convened their consortia, are developing
those collaborations, and have been actively planning their initiatives
for a number of months, but that they were not able to prepare their
applications completely by the deadline for the second round. Other
States applied for funds in the second stage of this competition, but
did not receive an average score of 70, which the Department
established as the minimum score.
The Secretary believes that States may benefit from additional
technical assistance on developing strong proposals to strengthen and
expand family literacy services in their States. In addition, these
States will be able to benefit from technical assistance on meeting the
absolute priority in the application, under which applicants must
address the new statutory requirement in the Even Start law to develop
performance indicators to measure adult and child outcomes. Development
of these performance indicators is not only required by the Even Start
law, but is an important part of a State's family literacy
accountability system.
Sufficient funds will remain after awards are made in the second
stage of this competition for a small number of additional States with
high-quality applications to receive awards. These grants can be an
important catalyst and resource in helping States strengthen and expand
family literacy services, and develop a coordinated system of
performance indicators for adults and children receiving family
literacy services. Therefore, the Department announces a third
opportunity for States to submit their applications under this
competition for FY 1999 funds. The Secretary encourages States that
have
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not yet received a grant in this competition to apply for these
collaboration funds to strengthen and expand family literacy services
in their States.
Technical assistance
The Department provided a variety of technical assistance
opportunities to all States following the first stage of this
competition. That technical assistance, in which many States
participated, included: application preparation workshops, distribution
of detailed written application preparation guidance, on-site
assistance, individual telephone consultations with contractors, and
review and comment by contractors on draft applications. The Department
offered these types of technical assistance to all States, and informed
those States that the provision of this assistance did not ensure the
applicant of funding nor bind the Department to funding any draft
proposal. The Department advised applicants that the actual funding of
their proposals would be based upon the evaluation of those proposals
by a panel of experts based on the selection criteria and procedures
published in the original notice inviting grant applications. The
Department intends to provide technical assistance opportunities to all
States that wish to apply in the third stage of this competition.
Cost issues
On June 25, 1999, the Department published a notice in the Federal
Register, 64 FR 34225, that included the following information about
cost issues for these grants.
Pre-award costs
The Department's regulations already authorize grant recipients to
incur allowable pre-award costs up to 90 calendar days before the grant
award (34 CFR 75.263 and 74.25(e)(1)). In addition, for this
competition, the Secretary will authorize grant recipients to use grant
funds to pay certain pre-award costs incurred more than 90 days before
the date of the grant award but no earlier than the date of the initial
notice inviting grant applications (February 24, 1999). Those
authorized pre-award costs are the necessary and reasonable costs to
establish, convene, and facilitate the required consortium's work in
creating the plan for the proposed statewide family literacy
initiative. States incur all pre-award costs at their own risk, in that
the Secretary is under no obligation to reimburse these costs if for
any reason the State does not receive an award or receives an award
that is less than anticipated and inadequate to cover these costs.
Waiver applicability
A State that receives a grant for an Even Start Statewide Family
Literacy Initiative must contribute an amount from non-Federal sources,
in cash or in kind, at least equal to the Federal funds awarded under
the grant. Drawing on non-Federal contributions is important to
building successful collaborative statewide efforts to strengthen and
expand family literacy services. However, identifying sufficient
resources to meet this requirement may be difficult in some instances.
In those cases, if the State educational agency (SEA) is the applicant
State office or agency, the SEA may request from the Secretary a waiver
under section 14401 of the ESEA of the requirement that only non-
Federal funds may be used to match the Federal award. Such a waiver, if
approved, would allow that State to use Federal resources (such as Head
Start, Title I, Adult Education Act, Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, and State grants under the Reading Excellence Act), in
addition to non-Federal resources, to meet the matching requirement.
Any waiver request must meet the required criteria in section 14401
by, among other things, identifying how the waiver would contribute to
improvements in teaching and learning. Applicants seeking a waiver of
the requirement for non-Federal matching resources should include their
waiver request with their application. To receive assistance concerning
a waiver request, potential waiver applicants may call the Department's
Waiver Assistance Line at (202) 401-7801 or 1-800-USA-LEARN, or the
program contact above. Waiver guidance, including information about
preparing a request, is also available in the Department's on-line
library at http://www.ed.gov/flexibility.
Electronic Access to this Document
The official version of this document is the document published in
the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of
the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations is available on
GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Anyone may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or
portable document format (pdf) on the World Wide Web at either of the
following sites: http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm or http://www.ed.gov/
news.html To use the pdf, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader
Program, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If
you have questions about using the pdf, call the U.S. Government
Printing Office toll free at 1-888-293-6498.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6362(c).
Dated: January 20, 2000.
Michael Cohen,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 00-1742 Filed 1-25-00; 8:45 am]
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