Grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs, 39254-39259 [05-13495]
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 129 / Thursday, July 7, 2005 / Notices
for a grant under this program are
advised to give careful consideration to
this measure in conceptualizing the
approach and evaluation for their
proposed project. If funded, applicants
will be asked to collect and report data
in their annual performance and final
reports about progress toward this
measure.
VII. Agency Contacts
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robyn Disselkoen or Sigrid Melus, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue, SW., room 3E259, Washington,
DC 20202–6450. Telephone: (202) 260–
3954. E-mail address:
OSDFSdrugtesting@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD), you may call
(toll free) 1–877–576–7734.
Individuals with disabilities may
obtain this document in an alternative
format (e.g., Braille, large print,
audiotape, or computer diskette) on
request to the contact person listed in
this section.
VIII. Other Information
Electronic Access to This Document:
You may view this document, as well as
all other documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or Adobe Portable Document
Format (PDF) on the Internet at the
following site: https://www.ed.gov/news/
fedregister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe
Acrobat Reader, which is available free
at this 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.
You may also view this document in
text or PDF at the following site:
https://www.ed.gov/programs/
drugtesting/applicant.html.
Note: 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 the Code
of Federal Regulations is available on GPO
Access at: https://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/
index.html.
Dated: July 5, 2005.
Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and DrugFree Schools.
[FR Doc. 05–13494 Filed 7–6–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Grants for School-Based Student
Drug-Testing Programs
Office of Safe and Drug-Free
Schools, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of final eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Assistant Deputy
Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free
Schools announces eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria for the School-Based
Student Drug-Testing program. We may
use these requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria for competitions in
fiscal year 2005 and later years. We take
this action to focus Federal financial
assistance on an identified national
need. We intend for these requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria to
increase the use of drug testing as a
means to deter student drug use.
EFFECTIVE DATE: These requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria are
effective August 8, 2005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robyn L. Disselkoen or Sigrid Melus,
U.S. Department of Education, 400
Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20202–6450. Telephone: (202) 260–
3954. E-mail:
OSDFSdrugtesting@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD), you may call
the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1–
800–877–8339.
Individuals with disabilities may
obtain this document in an alternative
format (e.g., Braille, large print,
audiotape, or computer diskette) on
request to the contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
Drug
abuse interferes with a student’s ability
to learn and disrupts the orderly
environment necessary for academic
achievement. Although drug use among
America’s youth has declined in recent
years, far too many young people
continue to use illegal drugs. The
Department of Education, through these
requirements, priorities, and selection
criteria, is encouraging schools and
communities to consider the use of
mandatory random and voluntary
student drug-testing programs as a tool
to support other drug-prevention efforts.
We published a notice of proposed
eligibility and application requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria for this
program in the Federal Register on
April 21, 2005 (70 FR 20739).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Analysis of Comments and Changes
In response to our invitation in the
notice of proposed eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria, nine parties submitted
comments. Three other comments did
not address the proposed eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria and are not discussed
here. An analysis of the comments and
of any changes in the eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria since publication of
the notice of proposed eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria follows.
We group major issues according to
subject. Generally, we do not address
technical and other minor changes and
suggested changes the law does not
authorize us to make under the
applicable statutory authority.
Eligibility Requirements
Comment: One commenter suggested
that State educational agencies be able
to apply for grant funds.
Discussion: Eligible applicants for this
competition include public and private
entities. To the extent that a State
educational agency meets the definition
of a public entity and all other
requirements of the competition, it may
apply.
Change: None.
Priority 1—Mandatory Random and
Voluntary Student Drug-Testing
Programs
Comments: Two commenters
expressed confusion over the wording
in option 3 of Priority 1. In the second
paragraph, under option 3, we stated
that schools that proposed a voluntary
drug-testing program could not prohibit
students who did not consent to be drug
tested from participating in school or
extracurricular activities. Both
commenters requested that we insert the
word ‘‘only’’ in the sentence as follows:
‘‘applicants who propose only voluntary
drug testing * * *’’ to clarify that the
last paragraph of Priority 1 applies only
to option 3, regarding voluntary drug
testing, and not to options 1 or 2,
mandatory random testing.
Discussion: We agree that the wording
in the second paragraph under option 3
could confuse some readers. We intend
that the wording apply only to students
in a voluntary testing program even
when applicants propose projects that
combine voluntary and mandatory
random components.
Change: We have merged the first and
second paragraphs under option 3 to
indicate clearly that the requirement
applies only to a voluntary drug-testing
program.
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Comment: One commenter stated that
it is unreasonable to limit a drug-testing
program to only one grade in a school
with many grades.
Discussion: Priority 1 specifies that a
drug-testing program may be
implemented in one or more grades 6
through 12. Applicants are free to
implement a drug-testing program in as
many grades from 6 through 12 as they
choose.
Change: None.
Priority 2—National Evaluation of
Mandatory Random Student DrugTesting Programs
Comments: Two commenters
questioned why Priority 2 does not
permit applicants to have a program that
includes both mandatory random and
voluntary drug testing.
Discussion: We are establishing the
restrictions in Priority 2 as part of the
national evaluation requirements. The
goal of the national evaluation is to
study the effects of mandatory random
drug testing on a sample of students.
Students who volunteer to be drug
tested may not be using drugs to the
same degree as those for whom drug
testing is mandatory. Therefore,
allowing schools in the evaluation to
have both a voluntary and a mandatory
random program would likely make it
more difficult to identify the impact of
mandatory random programs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter suggested
that the clear delineation of the effect of
mandatory random drug testing may be
less than expected in the proposed
research design because of the
requirement that all applicants show
desire and commitment for a program
that will reduce drug use, regardless of
whether a program is implemented. The
commenter believes that schools that are
committed to implementing drug testing
will always have a better result,
regardless of the intervention, than a
school that knows it is always going to
be a control.
Discussion: There may be a larger
difference in the incidence of substance
use for schools that desire, and have
implemented, a mandatory random
drug-testing program compared to
schools that are not interested in and
not implementing such a program.
However, that difference will reflect
both the true impact of implementing
the program and the selection bias of
schools that choose to adopt those
programs; randomly assigning schools
that are similarly motivated better
isolates the effect of the program.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter wanted us
to include the explicit statement that
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grantees that participate in the national
evaluation must also agree to cooperate
fully in the contractor’s separate
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
requirements in order to comply with
Department of Education regulations
and human research protection
procedures.
Discussion: Grantees whose sites are
selected for the national evaluation are
not required to have IRB approval for
their activities in support of the national
evaluation. The national evaluator
only—not the grantees—will conduct
the research activities, including survey
administration and obtaining parental
permission. The grantees will facilitate
communication between the national
evaluator and the parents and/or
students by, for example, providing
brochures and contact information for
the contractor, but they will not be
involved in conducting the research or
speaking on behalf of the national
evaluator.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter argued
that for the funded projects to constitute
a valid research sample, there needs to
be harmonization of policies and
procedures, such as the number of tests
and frequency of testing for each
student.
Discussion: We do not think that
policies and procedures need to be
harmonized in order to produce a valid
research sample. Implementation of
modestly different mandatory random
drug-testing programs by different
school districts will not affect the
validity of the study, provided that the
evaluation is understood as estimating
the impact of the average program as
implemented by the average school
district in the study. (Even if the
program model adopted were identical
across districts, the districts would
almost certainly differ in some aspects
of their implementation of the program,
making complete harmonization of
policies and procedures impossible.)
Nonetheless, we are concerned that, for
the treatment schools and control
schools to be comparable for the sake of
the evaluation, the matched schools
within each district will need to be
committed, prior to random assignment,
to implementing the same policies and
procedures with regard to drug testing.
Change: We have added a
requirement to Priority 2 that applicants
develop and implement mandatory
random student drug-testing policies
and procedures that are carried out
consistently in all schools selected to
implement drug testing.
Comment: One commenter stated that
two matched schools will be insufficient
for a valid research sample due to
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requirements for statistical power
analysis and problems with ‘‘nesting’’
and differences from site to site. The
commenter suggested that 75 to 100
schools should be involved with this
research design, following one cohort of
9th- and 10th-graders over two years.
Discussion: We do not agree with the
basic premise that 75 to 100 schools are
needed in the research design because
we have designed the study to detect a
10.2 percent reduction in the 30-day
prevalence of illicit drug use. In order
to detect this effect, we need 30 schools.
Our assumptions for the study design
are: (1) A two-tailed test at 80 percent
power and a 5 percent statistical
significance; (2) an R2 value of 0.50
because of the use of prior student drug
use as a covariate; (3) a non-random
sample of 30 schools with random
assignment of 15 schools to receive the
intervention and 15 schools to serve as
controls; (4) a sample size of 200
students per school with an 80 percent
response rate, and (5) an intra-class
correlation coefficient of 0.05. We
estimate that this design would generate
minimum detectable effects (MDE) of
approximately 0.17 standard deviation
for continuous outcomes, and 7.8
percent for binary outcomes where the
control group mean is 30 percent.
Because the sample of schools is
purposive, and statistically generalizing
beyond this sample is not valid, we
have calculated the power with a fixedeffects, rather than random effects,
framework. Under our assumptions, the
sample of 30 schools would be
sufficient to detect the reduction of 10.2
percent in the 30-day prevalence of use
of any illicit drug. If the true impact
were smaller than the MDE, that would
not challenge the validity of the study,
only its precision in detecting smaller
impacts from drug-testing programs.
Change: None.
Comment: A commenter stated that
the statistical design of the evaluation
raises serious issues of confidentiality
following from identification of specific
individuals for the evaluation
component each year. The evaluation,
according to the commenter, will
require the development of separate lists
of students eligible for the mandatory
random drug-testing program and
students who are not eligible, as well as
lists of students in the corresponding
groups at the control school.
Subsequently, in the commenter’s
example, for each of two
implementation years, 100 students in
the random testing pool and 100
students not in the pool, and 200
students at the control schools, will be
selected from the lists to respond to the
evaluation questionnaire.
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Discussion: The national evaluator
responsible for data collection will
respect the confidentiality of all student
records and take necessary measures to
ensure the security of the data.
Surveying students during school hours
would not pose a problem because
students’ responses to the survey would
remain confidential. The fact that
students are voluntarily participating in
the study would not necessarily be
private, but this issue is present in all
of our studies involving sampling of
students for data collection in school
settings. Students subject to drug testing
in Priority 2 will be athletes and
students in competitive extracurricular
activities. The study will be carried out
in accordance with the requirements of
the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection
of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
Change: We have added a
requirement to the application
requirements that all applicants must
provide a written assurance that all
proposed activities will be carried out in
accordance with the requirements of
FERPA and PPRA.
Comment: One commenter stated that
schools need to assist in obtaining
parental consent as part of their
participation in the national evaluation.
Discussion: In the notice of proposed
eligibility and application requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria, we
proposed a general requirement that
schools cooperate with the evaluation,
which we believe would include
cooperating with the national evaluator
to obtain parental consent. We agree,
however, that the requirement should
specifically include support by schools
of the evaluator’s efforts to obtain all
required parental consent.
Change: We are adding a requirement
in Priority 2 that applicants that agree
to participate in the national evaluation
provide an assurance that they will
cooperate with the national evaluator in
obtaining parental consent for student
participation in surveys the national
evaluator will administer in all of the
selected schools (control and
experimental).
Comment: One commenter suggested
that schools need to require mandatory
random testing for the entire academic
year for all eligible students, not just
during one sports season, for example.
Testing only during the season of sports
participation reduces the positive effects
of random student drug testing on
illegal drug use significantly.
Discussion: We agree that testing of
athletes and students in extracurricular
activities during the entire academic
year is important to maintaining the
deterrent effects of drug testing.
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Change: We have added language that
requires grantees under Priority 2 to
institute a policy of mandatory random
drug testing for the entire academic year
in the schools selected to implement
drug testing, and to ensure, to the extent
feasible, that all students who
participate in the drug-testing program
remain in the random drug-testing pool
for the entire academic year.
Application Requirements
Comment: One commenter noted that
the current language concerning
confidentiality of drug test results
indicating that a student is taking legal
medications would prohibit a medical
review officer from communicating
necessary information to authorized
school officials regarding a positive drug
test.
Discussion: As part of the general
application requirements, applicants
must provide a written assurance that
all positive drug tests will be reviewed
by a certified medical review officer.
Applicants must also provide a plan to
ensure the confidentiality of drugtesting results, including a provision
that prohibits the party conducting the
drug tests from disclosing to school
officials any information about a
student’s use of legal medications. The
medical review officer would confirm
with parents whether a student’s
positive drug test resulted from a legal
medication. If so, the medical review
officer would report the test result as a
negative for illegal drugs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter
recommended that we not exclude from
this competition recipients or
beneficiaries of a prior grant in 2003
under the Department’s Demonstration
Grants for Student Drug-Testing
competition.
Discussion: Congress appropriated
funds in FY 2005 to expand student
drug-testing programs. It is our intent to
extend Federal funding for student
drug-testing programs to as many new
school districts as possible. Allowing
current grantees to compete for these
funds would decrease the total number
of school districts that could receive
Federal support to implement a student
drug-testing grant.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter
recommended that we include text
stating that the implementation of a
mandatory random drug-testing or
voluntary drug-testing program be
governed by already approved policies.
Discussion: The requirements in this
notice of final eligibility and application
requirements, priorities, and selection
criteria will govern student drug-testing
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programs funded through this program.
These requirements represent the
necessary components of a student
drug-testing program with a drug testing
policy, and LEAs should incorporate
these components into their own drugtesting policy. We encourage LEAs to
develop student drug-testing policies
before beginning drug testing but do not
require that an LEA have a policy as a
prerequisite for receiving a grant award.
LEAs need time to develop a student
drug-testing policy that has been
reviewed and accepted by their school
administrators and school boards before
it can be implemented.
Change: None.
Comments: Two commenters
expressed concern about the ten percent
cap on the cost of site-based
evaluations.
Discussion: We believe that the ten
percent cap on site-based evaluations
will provide grantees with sufficient
funds to carry out their local evaluation.
We estimate the average size of an
award as $200,000, up to $20,000 of
which could be used to carry out a local
evaluation that reports on the
Government Performance and Results
Act (GPRA) performance measures and
specific program goals and objectives.
Change: None.
Selection Criteria: General
Comment: One commenter
recommended that the performance
target of the reduction of drug use by
five percent should only be tied to
program implementation in years two
and three.
Discussion: We understand that
progress in the first year may be
minimal while the grantee collects
baseline data. We think it important,
however, for grantees to report annually
on progress in meeting the performance
targets, as well as their project goals and
objectives. This information is necessary
to help us assess if grantees are making
progress and to determine technical
assistance needs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter
recommended that we award student
drug-testing grants on a first-come, firstserve basis for applicants that use a
standard pre-approved, drug-testing
program.
Discussion: We cannot provide a
standard drug-testing program for all
applicants to use because each applicant
must design a program that best suits
the needs and requirements of its
individual community. Variations in
State laws and local policies must be
factored into each individual program.
Moreover, each applicant must provide
an assurance that legal counsel has
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reviewed the proposed program and
advised the applicant that the program
activities do not appear to violate
established constitutional principles or
State and Federal requirements related
to implementing a student drug-testing
program.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter
recommended that LEAs funded
through this program be required to
have a strong evaluation design for their
local efforts. The commenter contended
that grantees should commit to
cooperating with a national evaluation
of the student drug-testing program,
which addresses such issues as: (1) The
reduction of the prevalence of drug use
among students, (2) the effectiveness of
a random program compared to a
voluntary program, (3) how other
coexisting strategies affect the reduction
of drug use, and (4) if there are any
unintended consequences linked to
drug testing.
Discussion: Under Priority 2 we will
carry out a national evaluation of
student-drug testing programs designed
to measure the effectiveness of this
strategy across all implementation sites.
We think that evaluating mandatory
drug testing programs will yield better
information about drug testing as an
effective deterrent than in comparing
mandatory random to voluntary drugtesting programs. Priority 1 requires all
grantees to conduct site-based
evaluations on program effectiveness
using objective performance measures
related to the outcomes of the project
and the Government Performance and
Results Act performance measure on the
incidence of drug use in the past month
and past year. Issues such as a
comparison of mandatory random to
voluntary drug testing may be part of
local evaluations.
Change: None.
Selection Criteria: Project Personnel
Comment: Two commenters asked
whether a grantee under this program
may hire specific project personnel such
as a social worker and a prevention
coordinator.
Discussion: Grant funds may be used
to pay for staff who implement and
carry out the drug-testing program.
When a student tests positive for drug
use, staff may be paid for reasonable
time spent counseling the student,
conducting a drug abuse assessment,
and referring a student to drug treatment
services. No funds may be used to pay
for drug abuse treatment services.
Within these parameters, we believe
that decisions on specific staff to hire
and to pay under the grant should be
left to individual grantees.
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Change: None.
Scope of Program
Comment: Several commenters
suggested that we broaden the scope of
the overall grant competition. One
commenter asked us to ensure that
appropriate health and mental heath
programs are in place before student
drug testing takes place; one commenter
asked us to allow funds to be used for
general drug prevention activities or
training in addition to drug testing; and
another asked us to expand the program
so that students in co-curricular
activities could be drug tested.
Discussion: We understand the
importance of providing assistance to
students who test positive for substance
abuse, which is why the program
requires that applicants provide a
comprehensive plan for referring
students who are identified as drug
users through the testing program to a
student assistance program, counseling,
or drug treatment. The drug-testing
program will be part of an existing,
comprehensive drug prevention
program in the schools to be served. We
want funds for this program to be used
for drug testing and not for drug
prevention curricula or other prevention
programs that can be funded from other
sources. The Safe and Drug Free Schools
and Communities Act State Grants, for
example, provide funds to LEAs to
implement prevention programs that are
responsive to local needs.
We have limited the scope of the
random drug-testing programs to
students involved in athletics and
competitive, school-sponsored,
extracurricular activities because drugtesting programs for these students
generally are consistent with established
constitutional principles. Programs for
students in co-curricular activities have
not yet received the same level of
judicial scrutiny.
Change: None.
Note: This notice does not solicit
applications. In any year in which we choose
to use one or more of these eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, or
selection criteria, we invite applications
through a notice in the Federal Register.
When inviting applications, we designate
each priority as absolute, competitive
preference, or invitational. The effect of each
priority is as follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute
priority we consider only applications that
meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a
competitive preference priority we give
competitive preference to an application by
either (1) awarding additional points,
depending on how well or the extent to
which the application meets the competitive
priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2)
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selecting an application that meets the
competitive priority over an application of
comparable merit that does not meet the
priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational
priority we are particularly interested in
applications that meet the invitational
priority. However, we do not give an
application that meets the invitational
priority a competitive or absolute preference
over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Eligibility Requirements
We are limiting eligibility for grants to
local educational agencies (LEAs) and
public and private entities.
Priorities
Priority #1—Mandatory Random and
Voluntary Student Drug-Testing
Programs
Under this priority, we will provide
Federal financial assistance to eligible
applicants to develop and implement, or
expand, school-based mandatory
random or voluntary drug-testing
programs for students in one or more
grades 6 through 12. Any drug-testing
program conducted with funds awarded
under this priority must be limited to
one or more of the following:
(1) Students who participate in the
school’s athletic program;
(2) Students who are engaged in
competitive, extracurricular, schoolsponsored activities; and
(3) A voluntary drug-testing program
for students who, along with their
parent or guardian, have provided
written consent to participate in a
random drug-testing program.
Applicants that propose voluntary drug
testing for students who, along with
their parent or guardian, provide written
consent, must not prohibit students who
do not consent from participating in
school or extracurricular activities.
Priority #2—National Evaluation of
Mandatory Random Student DrugTesting Programs
Under this priority, we will provide
Federal financial assistance to eligible
applicants to develop and implement
school-based mandatory random drugtesting programs for students in one or
more grades 6 through 12.
Any drug-testing program conducted
with funds awarded under this priority
must be limited to one or more of the
following:
(1) All students who participate in the
school’s athletic program; and
(2) All students who are engaged in
competitive, extracurricular, schoolsponsored activities.
Applicants for this priority must
propose drug testing in two or more
schools within the same LEA that do not
have an existing drug-testing program in
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operation. Drug testing must include, at
a minimum, students in three or more
grades from 9 through 12. In addition,
applicants for this priority must:
(1) Not have a voluntary testing
component proposed as part of their
program;
(2) Provide an assurance that the
schools randomly assigned to not begin
mandatory random drug testing will not
implement any drug-testing program for
the duration of the national evaluation;
(3) Agree to cooperate with all data
collection activities that the national
evaluation will conduct in all the
schools;
(4) Develop and implement
mandatory random drug-testing policies
and procedures to be carried out
consistently in all schools selected to
implement drug testing;
(5) Institute a policy of mandatory
random drug-testing for the entire
academic year in the schools selected to
implement drug testing;
(6) Ensure that, to the extent feasible,
all students who participate in the drugtesting program remain in the random
drug-testing pool for the entire academic
year; and
(7) Agree to participate in the national
evaluation and provide an assurance
that the applicant will cooperate with
the national evaluator in obtaining
parental consent for student
participation in surveys that the
national evaluator will administer in all
the selected schools (control and
experimental).
At the time of the grant award, the
Department of Education’s evaluator
will randomly assign the schools either
to receive the intervention (mandatory
random drug testing) or not receive the
intervention (no mandatory random
drug testing). The evaluator will collect
outcome data in both sets of schools.
Application Requirements: The
following requirements apply to all
applications submitted under this
program:
(1) Applicants may not submit more
than one application for an award under
this program.
(2) Applicants may not have been the
recipient or beneficiary of a grant in
2003 under the Department of
Education Demonstration Grants for
Student Drug-Testing competition.
(3) Non-LEA applicants must submit
a letter of agreement to participate from
an LEA. The letter must be signed by the
applicant and an authorized
representative of the LEA. Letters of
support are not acceptable as evidence
of the required agreement.
(4) Funds may not be used for the
following purposes:
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19:31 Jul 06, 2005
Jkt 205001
(a) Student drug tests administered
under suspicion of drug use;
(b) Incentives for students to
participate in programs;
(c) Drug treatment; or
(d) Drug prevention curricula or other
prevention programs.
(5) Applicants must:
(a) Identify a target population and
demonstrate a significant need for drug
testing within the target population;
(b) Explain how the proposed drugtesting program will be part of an
existing, comprehensive drug
prevention program in the schools to be
served;
(c) Provide a comprehensive plan for
referring students who are identified as
drug users through the testing program
to a student assistance program,
counseling, or drug treatment if
necessary;
(d) Provide a plan to ensure the
confidentiality of drug-testing results,
including a provision that prohibits the
party conducting drug tests from
disclosing to school officials any
information about a student’s use of
legal medications;
(e) Limit the cost of site-based
evaluations to no more than 10 percent
of total funds requested;
(f) Provide written assurances of the
following:
(i) That results of student drug tests
will not be disclosed to law enforcement
officials;
(ii) That results of student drug tests
will be destroyed when the student
graduates or otherwise leaves the LEA
or private school involved;
(iii) That all positive drug tests will be
reviewed by a certified medical review
officer;
(iv) That legal counsel has reviewed
the proposed program and advised that
the program activities do not appear to
violate established constitutional
principles or State and Federal
requirements related to implementing a
student drug-testing program; and
(v) That all proposed activities will be
carried out in accordance with the
requirements of the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the
Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment
(PPRA).
Selection Criteria: The Secretary will
select from the following those criteria
and factors that will be used to evaluate
applications under any competition
conducted under this program.
Note: The maximum score for all of these
criteria is 100 points. The points or weights
assigned to each criterion are in the
application package for this competition.
(1) Need for Project.
(a) The documented magnitude of
student drug use in schools to be served
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Fmt 4703
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by the drug-testing program, including
the nature, type, and frequency, if
known, of drugs being used by students
in the target population; and
(b) Other evidence of student drug
use, such as reports from parents,
students, school staff, or law
enforcement officials.
(2) Significance.
(a) The extent to which the proposed
project includes a thorough, highquality review of Federal and State laws
and relevant Supreme Court decisions
related to the proposed student drugtesting program;
(b) The extent to which the applicant
demonstrates school and community
support for the student drug-testing
program and has included a diversity of
perspectives such as those of parents,
counselors, teachers, and school board
members, in the development of the
drug-testing program; and
(c) The importance or magnitude of
the results or outcomes likely to be
attained by the student drug-testing
program.
(3) Quality of Project Design.
(a) The extent to which the project
will be based on up-to-date knowledge
from research and effective practice,
including the methodology for the
random selection of students to be
tested and procedures outlining the
collection, screening, confirmation, and
review of student drug tests by a
certified medical review officer;
(b) The extent to which the applicant
identifies the drugs for which it plans to
test and includes a rationale for the type
of testing device it plans to use for each
drug test;
(c) The quality of the applicant’s plan
to develop and implement a drug-testing
program that includes—
(i) Detailed procedures for responding
to a positive drug test, including
parental notification and referral to
student assistance programs, drug
education, or formal drug treatment, if
necessary; and
(ii) Clear consequences for a positive
drug test.
(4) Management Plan.
(a) The extent to which the applicant
describes appropriate chain-of-custody
procedures for test samples and
demonstrates a commitment to use labs
certified by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) to process student drug
tests; and
(b) The quality of the applicant’s plan
to ensure confidentiality of drug test
results, including limiting the number
of school officials who will have access
to student drug-testing records.
(5) Quality of Project Evaluation.
(a) The extent to which the methods
of evaluation include the use of
E:\FR\FM\07JYN1.SGM
07JYN1
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 129 / Thursday, July 7, 2005 / Notices
objective performance measures that are
clearly related to the intended outcomes
of the project; and
(b) The quality of the applicant’s plan
to collect data on the Government
Performance and Results Act (GPRA)
performance measure established by the
Department for this program and to
report these data to the Department.
Note: The Department has established the
following GPRA performance measure for the
School-Based Student Drug Testing program:
the reduction of the incidence of drug use in
the past month and past year. The Secretary
has set an overall performance target that
calls for the prevalence of drug use by
students in the target population to decline
by five percent annually.
Executive Order 12866
This notice of final requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria has
been reviewed in accordance with
Executive Order 12866. Under the terms
of the order, we have assessed the
potential costs and benefits of this
regulatory action.
The potential costs associated with
the notice of final requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria are
those we have determined as necessary
for administering this program
effectively and efficiently.
In assessing the potential costs and
benefits—both quantitative and
qualitative—of this notice of final
requirements, priorities, and selection
criteria, we have determined that the
benefits of the final requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria justify
the costs.
We have also determined that this
regulatory action does not unduly
interfere with State, local, and tribal
governments in the exercise of their
governmental functions.
We summarized the costs and benefits
of this regulatory action in the notice of
proposed eligibility and application
requirements, priorities, and selection
criteria.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is 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 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.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well
as all other Department of Education
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19:31 Jul 06, 2005
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documents published in the Federal
Register, in text or Adobe Portable
Document Format (PDF) on the Internet
at the following site: https://www.ed.gov/
news/fedregister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe
Acrobat Reader, which is available free
at this 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 the document 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: https://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/
index.html.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131.
Dated: July 5, 2005.
Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and DrugFree Schools.
[FR Doc. 05–13495 Filed 7–6–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. RP05–398–000]
CenterPoint Energy-Mississippi River
Transmission Corporation; Notice of
Proposed Changes in FERC Gas Tariff
June 29, 2005.
Take notice that on June 24, 2005,
CenterPoint Energy-Mississippi River
Transmission Corporation (MRT)
tendered for filing as part of its FERC
Gas Tariff, Third Revised Volume No. 1,
the following tariff sheets to be effective
July 5, 2005.
Fifth Revised Sheet No. 250
Fifth Revised Sheet No. 263
Fifth Revised Sheet No. 288
Third Revised Sheet No. 292A
Third Revised Sheet No. 330
MRT states that the purpose of this
filing is to update its tariff with the new
mailing address for its office in St.
Louis, MO.
Any person desiring to intervene or to
protest this filing must file in
accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of
the Commission’s Rules of Practice and
Procedure (18 CFR 385.211 and
385.214). Protests will be considered by
the Commission in determining the
appropriate action to be taken, but will
not serve to make protestants parties to
the proceeding. Any person wishing to
become a party must file a notice of
intervention or motion to intervene, as
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
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39259
appropriate. Such notices, motions, or
protests must be filed in accordance
with the provisions of Section 154.210
of the Commission’s regulations (18 CFR
154.210). Anyone filing an intervention
or protest must serve a copy of that
document on the Applicant. Anyone
filing an intervention or protest on or
before the intervention or protest date
need not serve motions to intervene or
protests on persons other than the
Applicant.
The Commission encourages
electronic submission of protests and
interventions in lieu of paper using the
‘‘eFiling’’ link at https://www.ferc.gov.
Persons unable to file electronically
should submit an original and 14 copies
of the protest or intervention to the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426.
This filing is accessible on-line at
https://www.ferc.gov, using the
‘‘eLibrary’’ link and is available for
review in the Commission’s Public
Reference Room in Washington, DC.
There is an ‘‘eSubscription’’ link on the
Web site that enables subscribers to
receive e-mail notification when a
document is added to a subscribed
docket(s). For assistance with any FERC
Online service, please e-mail
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call
(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call
(202) 502–8659.
Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5–3572 Filed 7–6–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. RP05–403–000]
Dauphin Island Gathering Partners;
Notice of Proposed Changes in FERC
Gas Tariff
June 29, 2005.
Take notice that on June 27, 2005,
Dauphin Island Gathering Partners
(Dauphin Island) tendered for filing its
cash out refund report for the period
May 1, 2004, through April 30, 2005.
Dauphin Island states that it has made
this refund to its customers based upon
its calculation method as set out in this
report.
Dauphin Island states that copies of
the filing are being served
contemporaneously on its customers
and other interested parties.
Any person desiring to intervene or to
protest this filing must file in
E:\FR\FM\07JYN1.SGM
07JYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 129 (Thursday, July 7, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39254-39259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-13495]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs
AGENCY: Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of final eligibility and application requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools
announces eligibility and application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria for the School-Based Student Drug-Testing program.
We may use these requirements, priorities, and selection criteria for
competitions in fiscal year 2005 and later years. We take this action
to focus Federal financial assistance on an identified national need.
We intend for these requirements, priorities, and selection criteria to
increase the use of drug testing as a means to deter student drug use.
EFFECTIVE DATE: These requirements, priorities, and selection criteria
are effective August 8, 2005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robyn L. Disselkoen or Sigrid Melus,
U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20202-6450. Telephone: (202) 260-3954. E-mail: OSDFSdrugtesting@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Drug abuse interferes with a student's
ability to learn and disrupts the orderly environment necessary for
academic achievement. Although drug use among America's youth has
declined in recent years, far too many young people continue to use
illegal drugs. The Department of Education, through these requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria, is encouraging schools and
communities to consider the use of mandatory random and voluntary
student drug-testing programs as a tool to support other drug-
prevention efforts.
We published a notice of proposed eligibility and application
requirements, priorities, and selection criteria for this program in
the Federal Register on April 21, 2005 (70 FR 20739).
Analysis of Comments and Changes
In response to our invitation in the notice of proposed eligibility
and application requirements, priorities, and selection criteria, nine
parties submitted comments. Three other comments did not address the
proposed eligibility and application requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria and are not discussed here. An analysis of the
comments and of any changes in the eligibility and application
requirements, priorities, and selection criteria since publication of
the notice of proposed eligibility and application requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria follows.
We group major issues according to subject. Generally, we do not
address technical and other minor changes and suggested changes the law
does not authorize us to make under the applicable statutory authority.
Eligibility Requirements
Comment: One commenter suggested that State educational agencies be
able to apply for grant funds.
Discussion: Eligible applicants for this competition include public
and private entities. To the extent that a State educational agency
meets the definition of a public entity and all other requirements of
the competition, it may apply.
Change: None.
Priority 1--Mandatory Random and Voluntary Student Drug-Testing
Programs
Comments: Two commenters expressed confusion over the wording in
option 3 of Priority 1. In the second paragraph, under option 3, we
stated that schools that proposed a voluntary drug-testing program
could not prohibit students who did not consent to be drug tested from
participating in school or extracurricular activities. Both commenters
requested that we insert the word ``only'' in the sentence as follows:
``applicants who propose only voluntary drug testing * * *'' to clarify
that the last paragraph of Priority 1 applies only to option 3,
regarding voluntary drug testing, and not to options 1 or 2, mandatory
random testing.
Discussion: We agree that the wording in the second paragraph under
option 3 could confuse some readers. We intend that the wording apply
only to students in a voluntary testing program even when applicants
propose projects that combine voluntary and mandatory random
components.
Change: We have merged the first and second paragraphs under option
3 to indicate clearly that the requirement applies only to a voluntary
drug-testing program.
[[Page 39255]]
Comment: One commenter stated that it is unreasonable to limit a
drug-testing program to only one grade in a school with many grades.
Discussion: Priority 1 specifies that a drug-testing program may be
implemented in one or more grades 6 through 12. Applicants are free to
implement a drug-testing program in as many grades from 6 through 12 as
they choose.
Change: None.
Priority 2--National Evaluation of Mandatory Random Student Drug-
Testing Programs
Comments: Two commenters questioned why Priority 2 does not permit
applicants to have a program that includes both mandatory random and
voluntary drug testing.
Discussion: We are establishing the restrictions in Priority 2 as
part of the national evaluation requirements. The goal of the national
evaluation is to study the effects of mandatory random drug testing on
a sample of students. Students who volunteer to be drug tested may not
be using drugs to the same degree as those for whom drug testing is
mandatory. Therefore, allowing schools in the evaluation to have both a
voluntary and a mandatory random program would likely make it more
difficult to identify the impact of mandatory random programs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter suggested that the clear delineation of the
effect of mandatory random drug testing may be less than expected in
the proposed research design because of the requirement that all
applicants show desire and commitment for a program that will reduce
drug use, regardless of whether a program is implemented. The commenter
believes that schools that are committed to implementing drug testing
will always have a better result, regardless of the intervention, than
a school that knows it is always going to be a control.
Discussion: There may be a larger difference in the incidence of
substance use for schools that desire, and have implemented, a
mandatory random drug-testing program compared to schools that are not
interested in and not implementing such a program. However, that
difference will reflect both the true impact of implementing the
program and the selection bias of schools that choose to adopt those
programs; randomly assigning schools that are similarly motivated
better isolates the effect of the program.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter wanted us to include the explicit statement
that grantees that participate in the national evaluation must also
agree to cooperate fully in the contractor's separate Institutional
Review Board (IRB) requirements in order to comply with Department of
Education regulations and human research protection procedures.
Discussion: Grantees whose sites are selected for the national
evaluation are not required to have IRB approval for their activities
in support of the national evaluation. The national evaluator only--not
the grantees--will conduct the research activities, including survey
administration and obtaining parental permission. The grantees will
facilitate communication between the national evaluator and the parents
and/or students by, for example, providing brochures and contact
information for the contractor, but they will not be involved in
conducting the research or speaking on behalf of the national
evaluator.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter argued that for the funded projects to
constitute a valid research sample, there needs to be harmonization of
policies and procedures, such as the number of tests and frequency of
testing for each student.
Discussion: We do not think that policies and procedures need to be
harmonized in order to produce a valid research sample. Implementation
of modestly different mandatory random drug-testing programs by
different school districts will not affect the validity of the study,
provided that the evaluation is understood as estimating the impact of
the average program as implemented by the average school district in
the study. (Even if the program model adopted were identical across
districts, the districts would almost certainly differ in some aspects
of their implementation of the program, making complete harmonization
of policies and procedures impossible.) Nonetheless, we are concerned
that, for the treatment schools and control schools to be comparable
for the sake of the evaluation, the matched schools within each
district will need to be committed, prior to random assignment, to
implementing the same policies and procedures with regard to drug
testing.
Change: We have added a requirement to Priority 2 that applicants
develop and implement mandatory random student drug-testing policies
and procedures that are carried out consistently in all schools
selected to implement drug testing.
Comment: One commenter stated that two matched schools will be
insufficient for a valid research sample due to requirements for
statistical power analysis and problems with ``nesting'' and
differences from site to site. The commenter suggested that 75 to 100
schools should be involved with this research design, following one
cohort of 9th- and 10th-graders over two years.
Discussion: We do not agree with the basic premise that 75 to 100
schools are needed in the research design because we have designed the
study to detect a 10.2 percent reduction in the 30-day prevalence of
illicit drug use. In order to detect this effect, we need 30 schools.
Our assumptions for the study design are: (1) A two-tailed test at 80
percent power and a 5 percent statistical significance; (2) an R2 value
of 0.50 because of the use of prior student drug use as a covariate;
(3) a non-random sample of 30 schools with random assignment of 15
schools to receive the intervention and 15 schools to serve as
controls; (4) a sample size of 200 students per school with an 80
percent response rate, and (5) an intra-class correlation coefficient
of 0.05. We estimate that this design would generate minimum detectable
effects (MDE) of approximately 0.17 standard deviation for continuous
outcomes, and 7.8 percent for binary outcomes where the control group
mean is 30 percent. Because the sample of schools is purposive, and
statistically generalizing beyond this sample is not valid, we have
calculated the power with a fixed-effects, rather than random effects,
framework. Under our assumptions, the sample of 30 schools would be
sufficient to detect the reduction of 10.2 percent in the 30-day
prevalence of use of any illicit drug. If the true impact were smaller
than the MDE, that would not challenge the validity of the study, only
its precision in detecting smaller impacts from drug-testing programs.
Change: None.
Comment: A commenter stated that the statistical design of the
evaluation raises serious issues of confidentiality following from
identification of specific individuals for the evaluation component
each year. The evaluation, according to the commenter, will require the
development of separate lists of students eligible for the mandatory
random drug-testing program and students who are not eligible, as well
as lists of students in the corresponding groups at the control school.
Subsequently, in the commenter's example, for each of two
implementation years, 100 students in the random testing pool and 100
students not in the pool, and 200 students at the control schools, will
be selected from the lists to respond to the evaluation questionnaire.
[[Page 39256]]
Discussion: The national evaluator responsible for data collection
will respect the confidentiality of all student records and take
necessary measures to ensure the security of the data. Surveying
students during school hours would not pose a problem because students'
responses to the survey would remain confidential. The fact that
students are voluntarily participating in the study would not
necessarily be private, but this issue is present in all of our studies
involving sampling of students for data collection in school settings.
Students subject to drug testing in Priority 2 will be athletes and
students in competitive extracurricular activities. The study will be
carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil
Rights Amendment (PPRA).
Change: We have added a requirement to the application requirements
that all applicants must provide a written assurance that all proposed
activities will be carried out in accordance with the requirements of
FERPA and PPRA.
Comment: One commenter stated that schools need to assist in
obtaining parental consent as part of their participation in the
national evaluation.
Discussion: In the notice of proposed eligibility and application
requirements, priorities, and selection criteria, we proposed a general
requirement that schools cooperate with the evaluation, which we
believe would include cooperating with the national evaluator to obtain
parental consent. We agree, however, that the requirement should
specifically include support by schools of the evaluator's efforts to
obtain all required parental consent.
Change: We are adding a requirement in Priority 2 that applicants
that agree to participate in the national evaluation provide an
assurance that they will cooperate with the national evaluator in
obtaining parental consent for student participation in surveys the
national evaluator will administer in all of the selected schools
(control and experimental).
Comment: One commenter suggested that schools need to require
mandatory random testing for the entire academic year for all eligible
students, not just during one sports season, for example. Testing only
during the season of sports participation reduces the positive effects
of random student drug testing on illegal drug use significantly.
Discussion: We agree that testing of athletes and students in
extracurricular activities during the entire academic year is important
to maintaining the deterrent effects of drug testing.
Change: We have added language that requires grantees under
Priority 2 to institute a policy of mandatory random drug testing for
the entire academic year in the schools selected to implement drug
testing, and to ensure, to the extent feasible, that all students who
participate in the drug-testing program remain in the random drug-
testing pool for the entire academic year.
Application Requirements
Comment: One commenter noted that the current language concerning
confidentiality of drug test results indicating that a student is
taking legal medications would prohibit a medical review officer from
communicating necessary information to authorized school officials
regarding a positive drug test.
Discussion: As part of the general application requirements,
applicants must provide a written assurance that all positive drug
tests will be reviewed by a certified medical review officer.
Applicants must also provide a plan to ensure the confidentiality of
drug-testing results, including a provision that prohibits the party
conducting the drug tests from disclosing to school officials any
information about a student's use of legal medications. The medical
review officer would confirm with parents whether a student's positive
drug test resulted from a legal medication. If so, the medical review
officer would report the test result as a negative for illegal drugs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter recommended that we not exclude from this
competition recipients or beneficiaries of a prior grant in 2003 under
the Department's Demonstration Grants for Student Drug-Testing
competition.
Discussion: Congress appropriated funds in FY 2005 to expand
student drug-testing programs. It is our intent to extend Federal
funding for student drug-testing programs to as many new school
districts as possible. Allowing current grantees to compete for these
funds would decrease the total number of school districts that could
receive Federal support to implement a student drug-testing grant.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter recommended that we include text stating
that the implementation of a mandatory random drug-testing or voluntary
drug-testing program be governed by already approved policies.
Discussion: The requirements in this notice of final eligibility
and application requirements, priorities, and selection criteria will
govern student drug-testing programs funded through this program. These
requirements represent the necessary components of a student drug-
testing program with a drug testing policy, and LEAs should incorporate
these components into their own drug-testing policy. We encourage LEAs
to develop student drug-testing policies before beginning drug testing
but do not require that an LEA have a policy as a prerequisite for
receiving a grant award. LEAs need time to develop a student drug-
testing policy that has been reviewed and accepted by their school
administrators and school boards before it can be implemented.
Change: None.
Comments: Two commenters expressed concern about the ten percent
cap on the cost of site-based evaluations.
Discussion: We believe that the ten percent cap on site-based
evaluations will provide grantees with sufficient funds to carry out
their local evaluation. We estimate the average size of an award as
$200,000, up to $20,000 of which could be used to carry out a local
evaluation that reports on the Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) performance measures and specific program goals and objectives.
Change: None.
Selection Criteria: General
Comment: One commenter recommended that the performance target of
the reduction of drug use by five percent should only be tied to
program implementation in years two and three.
Discussion: We understand that progress in the first year may be
minimal while the grantee collects baseline data. We think it
important, however, for grantees to report annually on progress in
meeting the performance targets, as well as their project goals and
objectives. This information is necessary to help us assess if grantees
are making progress and to determine technical assistance needs.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter recommended that we award student drug-
testing grants on a first-come, first-serve basis for applicants that
use a standard pre-approved, drug-testing program.
Discussion: We cannot provide a standard drug-testing program for
all applicants to use because each applicant must design a program that
best suits the needs and requirements of its individual community.
Variations in State laws and local policies must be factored into each
individual program. Moreover, each applicant must provide an assurance
that legal counsel has
[[Page 39257]]
reviewed the proposed program and advised the applicant that the
program activities do not appear to violate established constitutional
principles or State and Federal requirements related to implementing a
student drug-testing program.
Change: None.
Comment: One commenter recommended that LEAs funded through this
program be required to have a strong evaluation design for their local
efforts. The commenter contended that grantees should commit to
cooperating with a national evaluation of the student drug-testing
program, which addresses such issues as: (1) The reduction of the
prevalence of drug use among students, (2) the effectiveness of a
random program compared to a voluntary program, (3) how other
coexisting strategies affect the reduction of drug use, and (4) if
there are any unintended consequences linked to drug testing.
Discussion: Under Priority 2 we will carry out a national
evaluation of student-drug testing programs designed to measure the
effectiveness of this strategy across all implementation sites. We
think that evaluating mandatory drug testing programs will yield better
information about drug testing as an effective deterrent than in
comparing mandatory random to voluntary drug-testing programs. Priority
1 requires all grantees to conduct site-based evaluations on program
effectiveness using objective performance measures related to the
outcomes of the project and the Government Performance and Results Act
performance measure on the incidence of drug use in the past month and
past year. Issues such as a comparison of mandatory random to voluntary
drug testing may be part of local evaluations.
Change: None.
Selection Criteria: Project Personnel
Comment: Two commenters asked whether a grantee under this program
may hire specific project personnel such as a social worker and a
prevention coordinator.
Discussion: Grant funds may be used to pay for staff who implement
and carry out the drug-testing program. When a student tests positive
for drug use, staff may be paid for reasonable time spent counseling
the student, conducting a drug abuse assessment, and referring a
student to drug treatment services. No funds may be used to pay for
drug abuse treatment services. Within these parameters, we believe that
decisions on specific staff to hire and to pay under the grant should
be left to individual grantees.
Change: None.
Scope of Program
Comment: Several commenters suggested that we broaden the scope of
the overall grant competition. One commenter asked us to ensure that
appropriate health and mental heath programs are in place before
student drug testing takes place; one commenter asked us to allow funds
to be used for general drug prevention activities or training in
addition to drug testing; and another asked us to expand the program so
that students in co-curricular activities could be drug tested.
Discussion: We understand the importance of providing assistance to
students who test positive for substance abuse, which is why the
program requires that applicants provide a comprehensive plan for
referring students who are identified as drug users through the testing
program to a student assistance program, counseling, or drug treatment.
The drug-testing program will be part of an existing, comprehensive
drug prevention program in the schools to be served. We want funds for
this program to be used for drug testing and not for drug prevention
curricula or other prevention programs that can be funded from other
sources. The Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act State
Grants, for example, provide funds to LEAs to implement prevention
programs that are responsive to local needs.
We have limited the scope of the random drug-testing programs to
students involved in athletics and competitive, school-sponsored,
extracurricular activities because drug-testing programs for these
students generally are consistent with established constitutional
principles. Programs for students in co-curricular activities have not
yet received the same level of judicial scrutiny.
Change: None.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use one or more of these eligibility and
application requirements, priorities, or selection criteria, we
invite applications through a notice in the Federal Register. When
inviting applications, we designate each priority as absolute,
competitive preference, or invitational. The effect of each priority
is as follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority we consider only
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference
priority we give competitive preference to an application by either
(1) awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent
to which the application meets the competitive priority (34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting an application that meets the
competitive priority over an application of comparable merit that
does not meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority we are
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the
invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over
other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Eligibility Requirements
We are limiting eligibility for grants to local educational
agencies (LEAs) and public and private entities.
Priorities
Priority 1--Mandatory Random and Voluntary Student Drug-
Testing Programs
Under this priority, we will provide Federal financial assistance
to eligible applicants to develop and implement, or expand, school-
based mandatory random or voluntary drug-testing programs for students
in one or more grades 6 through 12. Any drug-testing program conducted
with funds awarded under this priority must be limited to one or more
of the following:
(1) Students who participate in the school's athletic program;
(2) Students who are engaged in competitive, extracurricular,
school-sponsored activities; and
(3) A voluntary drug-testing program for students who, along with
their parent or guardian, have provided written consent to participate
in a random drug-testing program. Applicants that propose voluntary
drug testing for students who, along with their parent or guardian,
provide written consent, must not prohibit students who do not consent
from participating in school or extracurricular activities.
Priority 2--National Evaluation of Mandatory Random Student
Drug-Testing Programs
Under this priority, we will provide Federal financial assistance
to eligible applicants to develop and implement school-based mandatory
random drug-testing programs for students in one or more grades 6
through 12.
Any drug-testing program conducted with funds awarded under this
priority must be limited to one or more of the following:
(1) All students who participate in the school's athletic program;
and
(2) All students who are engaged in competitive, extracurricular,
school-sponsored activities.
Applicants for this priority must propose drug testing in two or
more schools within the same LEA that do not have an existing drug-
testing program in
[[Page 39258]]
operation. Drug testing must include, at a minimum, students in three
or more grades from 9 through 12. In addition, applicants for this
priority must:
(1) Not have a voluntary testing component proposed as part of
their program;
(2) Provide an assurance that the schools randomly assigned to not
begin mandatory random drug testing will not implement any drug-testing
program for the duration of the national evaluation;
(3) Agree to cooperate with all data collection activities that the
national evaluation will conduct in all the schools;
(4) Develop and implement mandatory random drug-testing policies
and procedures to be carried out consistently in all schools selected
to implement drug testing;
(5) Institute a policy of mandatory random drug-testing for the
entire academic year in the schools selected to implement drug testing;
(6) Ensure that, to the extent feasible, all students who
participate in the drug-testing program remain in the random drug-
testing pool for the entire academic year; and
(7) Agree to participate in the national evaluation and provide an
assurance that the applicant will cooperate with the national evaluator
in obtaining parental consent for student participation in surveys that
the national evaluator will administer in all the selected schools
(control and experimental).
At the time of the grant award, the Department of Education's
evaluator will randomly assign the schools either to receive the
intervention (mandatory random drug testing) or not receive the
intervention (no mandatory random drug testing). The evaluator will
collect outcome data in both sets of schools.
Application Requirements: The following requirements apply to all
applications submitted under this program:
(1) Applicants may not submit more than one application for an
award under this program.
(2) Applicants may not have been the recipient or beneficiary of a
grant in 2003 under the Department of Education Demonstration Grants
for Student Drug-Testing competition.
(3) Non-LEA applicants must submit a letter of agreement to
participate from an LEA. The letter must be signed by the applicant and
an authorized representative of the LEA. Letters of support are not
acceptable as evidence of the required agreement.
(4) Funds may not be used for the following purposes:
(a) Student drug tests administered under suspicion of drug use;
(b) Incentives for students to participate in programs;
(c) Drug treatment; or
(d) Drug prevention curricula or other prevention programs.
(5) Applicants must:
(a) Identify a target population and demonstrate a significant need
for drug testing within the target population;
(b) Explain how the proposed drug-testing program will be part of
an existing, comprehensive drug prevention program in the schools to be
served;
(c) Provide a comprehensive plan for referring students who are
identified as drug users through the testing program to a student
assistance program, counseling, or drug treatment if necessary;
(d) Provide a plan to ensure the confidentiality of drug-testing
results, including a provision that prohibits the party conducting drug
tests from disclosing to school officials any information about a
student's use of legal medications;
(e) Limit the cost of site-based evaluations to no more than 10
percent of total funds requested;
(f) Provide written assurances of the following:
(i) That results of student drug tests will not be disclosed to law
enforcement officials;
(ii) That results of student drug tests will be destroyed when the
student graduates or otherwise leaves the LEA or private school
involved;
(iii) That all positive drug tests will be reviewed by a certified
medical review officer;
(iv) That legal counsel has reviewed the proposed program and
advised that the program activities do not appear to violate
established constitutional principles or State and Federal requirements
related to implementing a student drug-testing program; and
(v) That all proposed activities will be carried out in accordance
with the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
Selection Criteria: The Secretary will select from the following
those criteria and factors that will be used to evaluate applications
under any competition conducted under this program.
Note: The maximum score for all of these criteria is 100 points.
The points or weights assigned to each criterion are in the
application package for this competition.
(1) Need for Project.
(a) The documented magnitude of student drug use in schools to be
served by the drug-testing program, including the nature, type, and
frequency, if known, of drugs being used by students in the target
population; and
(b) Other evidence of student drug use, such as reports from
parents, students, school staff, or law enforcement officials.
(2) Significance.
(a) The extent to which the proposed project includes a thorough,
high-quality review of Federal and State laws and relevant Supreme
Court decisions related to the proposed student drug-testing program;
(b) The extent to which the applicant demonstrates school and
community support for the student drug-testing program and has included
a diversity of perspectives such as those of parents, counselors,
teachers, and school board members, in the development of the drug-
testing program; and
(c) The importance or magnitude of the results or outcomes likely
to be attained by the student drug-testing program.
(3) Quality of Project Design.
(a) The extent to which the project will be based on up-to-date
knowledge from research and effective practice, including the
methodology for the random selection of students to be tested and
procedures outlining the collection, screening, confirmation, and
review of student drug tests by a certified medical review officer;
(b) The extent to which the applicant identifies the drugs for
which it plans to test and includes a rationale for the type of testing
device it plans to use for each drug test;
(c) The quality of the applicant's plan to develop and implement a
drug-testing program that includes--
(i) Detailed procedures for responding to a positive drug test,
including parental notification and referral to student assistance
programs, drug education, or formal drug treatment, if necessary; and
(ii) Clear consequences for a positive drug test.
(4) Management Plan.
(a) The extent to which the applicant describes appropriate chain-
of-custody procedures for test samples and demonstrates a commitment to
use labs certified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) to process student drug tests; and
(b) The quality of the applicant's plan to ensure confidentiality
of drug test results, including limiting the number of school officials
who will have access to student drug-testing records.
(5) Quality of Project Evaluation.
(a) The extent to which the methods of evaluation include the use
of
[[Page 39259]]
objective performance measures that are clearly related to the intended
outcomes of the project; and
(b) The quality of the applicant's plan to collect data on the
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) performance measure
established by the Department for this program and to report these data
to the Department.
Note: The Department has established the following GPRA
performance measure for the School-Based Student Drug Testing
program: the reduction of the incidence of drug use in the past
month and past year. The Secretary has set an overall performance
target that calls for the prevalence of drug use by students in the
target population to decline by five percent annually.
Executive Order 12866
This notice of final requirements, priorities, and selection
criteria has been reviewed in accordance with Executive Order 12866.
Under the terms of the order, we have assessed the potential costs and
benefits of this regulatory action.
The potential costs associated with the notice of final
requirements, priorities, and selection criteria are those we have
determined as necessary for administering this program effectively and
efficiently.
In assessing the potential costs and benefits--both quantitative
and qualitative--of this notice of final requirements, priorities, and
selection criteria, we have determined that the benefits of the final
requirements, priorities, and selection criteria justify the costs.
We have also determined that this regulatory action does not unduly
interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the exercise of
their governmental functions.
We summarized the costs and benefits of this regulatory action in
the notice of proposed eligibility and application requirements,
priorities, and selection criteria.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is 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 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.
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:
https://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this 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 the document
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: https://www.gpoaccess.gov/
nara/.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131.
Dated: July 5, 2005.
Deborah A. Price,
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
[FR Doc. 05-13495 Filed 7-6-05; 8:45 am]
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