Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Special Education--Training and Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities; Notice of Final Waiver [OSERS]

[Federal Register: March 28, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 60)]
[Notices]               
[Page 17069-17070]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28mr01-108]                         


[[Page 17069]]

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Part VII





Department of Education





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Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Special 
Education--Training and Information for Parents of Children with 
Disabilities; Notice


[[Page 17070]]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

 
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Special 
Education--Training and Information for Parents of Children with 
Disabilities

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of Final Waiver.

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SUMMARY: We waive the requirements in EDGAR at 34 CFR 75.261(a) that 
generally prohibit project extensions that involve the obligation of 
additional Federal funds as applied to the Parent Training and 
Information Centers (PTIs) funded in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999. As a result 
of this waiver, these Centers are authorized to carry out additional 
activities to support fifth year funding. We will issue one-year 
continuation awards in FY 2003 to the fifteen (15) Parent Training and 
Information Centers project funded in FY 1999 in order to ensure the 
most efficient use of Federal funds. Only those grantees who currently 
hold the FY 1999 four year grant awards under the Parent Training and 
Information Centers projects would be eligible to apply for the funds.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This waiver takes effect on April 27, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the waiver 
under the Training and Information for Parents of Children with 
Disabilities Program contact Debra Sturdivant or Donna Fluke, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3527, Switzer 
Building, Washington, DC 20202-2641. Telephone: (202) 205-8038 and 205-
9161, respectively. FAX: (202) 205-8105. Internet: 
Debra_Sturdivant@ed.gov and Donna_Fluke@ed.gov
    If you use a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD), you 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: On June 9, 1999, we issued a Notice Inviting 
Applications for New Awards under the Parent Training and Information 
Centers Program for Fiscal Year 1999. In this notice, the Department 
announced that it would make fifteen awards of up to 48 months (four-
year cycle awards) under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) and the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to support the establishment of 
Parent Training and Information Centers that provide training and 
information to parents of children with disabilities to help improve 
results for their children. Subsequently the Department determined that 
these awards should be extended for an additional year.
    The fifteen Centers affected by this notice include thirteen State 
awards and two other awards, one that focuses on the needs of Native 
American families, and one that focuses on military families. The grant 
period for these centers extends for four years until May 31, 2003.

Reasons

    The IDEA Amendments of 1997 strengthened the role of parents and 
increased their involvement in decisions about their children's 
education. Beginning with the awards made under this program in FY 
2000, we have determined that making awards for five-year periods 
reduces the frequency of disruption in services resulting from changes 
in grantees. On this basis, we believe that it makes the most 
programmatic sense to issue continuation awards to the existing fiscal 
year 1999 grantees in order to make their award cycle consistent with 
the fiscal year 2000 five-year cycle awards. However, to do so, we 
found it necessary to waive the requirement in 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2), 
which prohibits project period extensions that involve the obligation 
of additional Federal funds. We are issuing this waiver at this time in 
order to give the affected grantees early notice of the availability of 
a fifth year of funding.

Public Comment

    On November 17, 2000, we published a notice of proposed waiver for 
this program in the Federal Register (65 FR 69620). In response to the 
Assistant Secretary's invitation in the notice of proposed waiver, we 
did not receive any comments. This notice of proposed waiver included a 
discussion of the significant issues on page 69620. Except for minor 
editorial and technical revisions, there are no differences between the 
notice of proposed waiver and this notice of final waiver.

Waiver

    Based on the response to the notice of proposed waiver, we waive 
the requirements of 34 CFR 75.261 to the 15 Parent Training and 
Information Centers (PTIs) receiving four-year awards beginning in FY 
1999.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980

    This waiver has been examined under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1980 and has been found to contain no information collection 
requirements.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: 
www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at the previous site. If you have questions about using PDF, call 
the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-
6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.


    Note: The official version of this document is published in the 
Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of 
the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is 
available on GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/
index.html

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.328, Training and 
Information for Parents of Children with Disabilities.)

    Dated: March 22, 2001.
Andrew J. Pepin,
Executive Administrator, for Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services.
[FR Doc. 01-7589 Filed 3-27-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-U