Proposed Priority and Requirements-Education Facilities Clearinghouse, 27129-27132 [2013-10962]
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 90 / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Proposed Rules
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter II
[Docket ID ED–2013–OESE–0062]
Proposed Priority and Requirements—
Education Facilities Clearinghouse
Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Proposed priority and
requirements.
AGENCY:
CFDA Number: 84.215T.
The Assistant Secretary for
Elementary and Secondary Education
proposes a priority and requirements
under the Education Facilities
Clearinghouse program and may use one
or more of the priority and requirements
for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013
and later years. We intend to award
funds under a cooperative agreement to
support the collection and
dissemination of best practices for the
planning, design, financing,
procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of safe, healthy, and highperforming elementary and secondary
education facilities. We intend to
establish a Clearinghouse to help
stakeholders recognize the linkages
between the school facility and three
areas: Academic instruction, student
and community well-being, and school
fiscal health.
DATES: We must receive your comments
on or before June 10, 2013. We
encourage you to submit comments well
in advance of this date.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery,
or hand delivery. We will not accept
comments submitted by fax or by email.
To ensure we do not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments
only once. In addition, please include
the Docket ID and the term ‘‘Education
Facilities Clearinghouse’’ at the top of
your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
www.regulations.gov to submit your
comments electronically. Information
on using Regulations.gov, including
instructions for accessing agency
documents, submitting comments, and
viewing the docket, is available on the
site under ’’How To Use
Regulations.gov’’ in the Help section.
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or
Hand Delivery. If you mail or deliver
your comments about these proposed
priorities and requirements, address
them to the Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education (Attention:
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
SUMMARY:
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Education Facilities Clearinghouse
Grants-Comments), U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Potomac Center Plaza (PCP) Room
10073, Washington, DC 20202–6450.
Privacy Note: The Department’s
policy is to make all comments received
from members of the public available for
public viewing in their entirety on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to
include in their comments only
information that they wish to make
publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat
Rattler. Telephone: (202) 245–7893 or
by email: Pat.Rattler@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877–
8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you
to submit comments regarding this
notice. To ensure that your comments
have maximum effect in developing the
notice of final priorities and
requirements, we urge you to identify
clearly the specific priority or
requirement that each comment
addresses.
We invite you to assist us in
complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866
and 13563 and their overall requirement
of reducing regulatory burden that
might result from these proposed
priorities and requirements. Please let
us know of any further ways we could
reduce potential costs or increase
potential benefits while preserving the
effective and efficient administration of
the program.
During and after the comment period,
you may inspect all public comments
about this notice in Room 3W110, 400
Maryland Avenue SW., Washington,
DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and
4:00 p.m., Washington, DC time,
Monday through Friday of each week
except Federal holidays.
Assistance to Individuals with
Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request we will
provide an appropriate accommodation
or auxiliary to aid an individual with a
disability who needs assistance to
review the comments or other
documents in the public rulemaking
record for this notice. If you want to
schedule an appointment for this type of
accommodation or auxiliary aid, please
contact the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Purpose of Program: The purpose of
the Education Facilities Clearinghouse
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27129
is to provide technical assistance and
training on the planning, design,
financing, procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of safe, healthy, and highperforming elementary and secondary
education facilities.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131; 7243–
7243b.
Background
The Education Facilities
Clearinghouse is intended to assist
States, local educational agencies
(LEAs), and schools in creating safe,
healthy, and high-performing education
facilities by collecting and
disseminating best practices for
facilities planning, design, financing,
procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance.
With this array of services, it is the
Department’s intent to use the
Education Facilities Clearinghouse to
assist education stakeholders in creating
and sustaining higher quality
environments for students, educators,
and their communities. There is a
growing body of research linking school
facility quality to educational outcomes
and documenting inequality in the
distribution or quality of facilities:
• Inequality in School Facilities:
There are significant inequalities in
capital investment and in the
availability of science labs, art rooms,
music rooms, and gymnasiums between
schools in low-income areas and
schools in more affluent areas.1
• Facilities and Health: Air quality,
acoustics, levels of thermal comfort, and
lighting can affect the health and wellbeing of school occupants and have
been linked in a small number of
studies to student educational
outcomes.2
• Facilities and Communities: School
facilities affect students and their
communities. School siting, size,
efficiency, and design have implications
for the community surrounding the
school.3
• Facilities and Behavior: There is
evidence of a link between various
1 U.S. Department of Education: National Center
for Education Statistics, Public School Principals’
Perceptions of Their School Facilities: Fall 2005,
NCES 2008–011 (Washington, DC: National Center
for Education Statistics, 2008), retrieved April 2013.
2 Earthman, G.I., C.S. Cash, and D. Van Berkum.
1995. ‘‘Student achievement and behavior and
school building condition.’’ Journal of School
Business Management, 8(3): 26–37; and
Shaughnessy, R., U. Shaughnessy, et al. 2006. ‘‘A
preliminary study on the association between
ventilation rates in classrooms and student
performance.’’ Indoor Air 16(6):465–468.
3 ‘‘School Siting Guidelines,’’ Environmental
Protection Agency, accessed April 2013, https://
www.epa.gov/schools/siting/.
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 90 / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Proposed Rules
aspects of a school’s physical
environment, on the one hand, and
problematic student behavior in high
schools and the retention of teachers
across elementary and secondary
schools, on the other hand.4 5
With the proposed priority and
requirements, we seek to build on the
efforts we began with the FY 2010
Education Facilities Clearinghouse
competition by clarifying the major
goals of the Clearinghouse in order to
address many of the concerns about the
status of education facilities and by
aligning this program with the
Department’s other initiatives relating to
health and safety. One such initiative is
the U.S. Department of Education’s
Green Ribbon Schools (ED–GRS)
program.
Proposed Priority
This notice contains one proposed
priority.
Proposed Priority—Establishment of the
Clearinghouse
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Background
With the proposed priority, we
reaffirm the central purpose of the
Clearinghouse, as stated in the notice
inviting applications announced for the
FY 2010 competition (75 FR 34441), and
clarify the major goals of the
Clearinghouse’s core activities. The
purpose of the Clearinghouse is to
provide technical assistance and
training on the planning, design,
financing, procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of elementary and
secondary school facilities. The major
goals we seek to address with this
priority are: First, to highlight the role
that school facilities might play in
reducing education inequity and
facilitating increased academic
achievement; second, to better align the
work of the Clearinghouse with the ED–
GRS program; and, lastly, to preserve
the role of the Clearinghouse in helping
schools retrofit their facilities to
increase security and student safety.
The ED–GRS program honors schools
that are exemplary in three key areas:
Reducing environmental impact and
costs; improving the health and
4 Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, The Effects of
School Facility Quality on Teacher Retention in
Urban School Districts. National Clearinghouse for
Educational Facilities. February 2004, retrieved
April 2013. https://www.ncef.org/pubs/
teacherretention.pdf.
5 Revathy Kumar, Patrick O’Malley, and Lloyd
Johnston, ‘‘Association between physical
environment of secondary schools and student
problem behavior: A national study, 2000–2003,’’
Environment and Behavior 40, no. 4 (2008): 455–
486, retrieved December 2012 from DOI: 10.1177/
0013916506293987.
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wellness of students and staff; and
providing effective environmental and
sustainability education, which
incorporates science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM),
civic skills, and green career pathways.
To better align with the first two GRS–
ED key activities, the proposed priority
would direct the Clearinghouse to help
education stakeholders understand how
to use education facilities to improve
community health and safety and
student achievement, identify costsaving opportunities, and increase the
quality of school time spent outdoors.
More information regarding the ED–GRS
program can be found at https://
www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbonschools/.
Proposed Priority
Establish a Clearinghouse to collect
and disseminate research and other
information on effective practices
regarding the planning, design,
financing, procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of safe, healthy, and highperforming facilities for elementary and
secondary schools in order to—
(a) Help education stakeholders
increase their use of education facilities
to turn around low-performing schools
and close academic achievement gaps;
(b) Increase understanding of how
education facilities affect community
health and safety and student
achievement;
(c) Identify potential cost-saving
opportunities through procurement,
energy efficiency, and preventative
maintenance;
(d) Increase the use of education
facilities and outdoor spaces as
instructional tools and community
centers (e.g., outdoor classrooms, school
gardens, school-based health centers);
and
(e) Increase capacity to identify
hazards and conduct vulnerability
assessments, and, through facility
design, increase safety against hazards,
natural disasters, and intruders.
Types of Priorities
When inviting applications for a
competition using one or more
priorities, we designate the type of each
priority as absolute, competitive
preference, or invitational through a
notice in the Federal Register. The
effect of each type of priority follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute
priority, the Department considers 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
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application by (1) awarding additional
points, depending on the extent to
which the application meets the priority
(34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) selecting
an application that meets the 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
priority. However, we do not give an
application that meets the priority a
preference over other applications (34
CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Proposed Requirements
The Assistant Secretary proposes the
following requirements for this program.
We may apply one or more of these
requirements in any year in which this
program is in effect.
Background
The following proposed requirements
describe the four core activities of the
Clearinghouse: Developing and
maintaining a Web site to facilitate
public access to electronic resources
and research; developing resource
materials and compiling best practices
to assist in the creation of safe, healthy,
and high-performing facilities;
developing and implementing training
programs for various education
stakeholders; and providing direct,
specialized technical assistance to
schools and LEAs. With these
requirements, we seek to clarify that the
applicant must include in its
application its plan to implement these
four core activities.
Proposed Requirement 1—Establish
and Maintain a Web Site
An applicant must include in its
application a plan to establish and
maintain a dedicated, easily-accessible
Web site that will include electronic
resources (e.g., links to published
articles and research) about the
planning, design, financing,
procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of safe, healthy, and highperforming facilities for elementary and
secondary schools. The Web site must
be established within 120 days of
receipt of the award and must be
maintained for the duration of the
project.
Proposed Requirement 2—Track and
Compile Best Practices and Develop
Resource Materials
An applicant must include in its
application a plan to track and compile
best practices at the State, LEA, and
school levels and a plan to develop
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 90 / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Proposed Rules
resources that support the planning,
design, financing, procurement,
construction, improvement, operation,
and maintenance of safe, healthy, and
high-performing facilities for elementary
and secondary schools.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Proposed Requirement 3—Training
An applicant must include in its
application a plan to develop and
conduct at least two training programs
per year for individuals in leadership
positions (such as business or
operations managers) in elementary or
secondary schools or LEAs, who are
responsible for the construction and or
maintenance of elementary and
secondary education facilities. Training
topics must include information on the
planning, design, financing,
procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of education facilities in
order to improve the capacity of
elementary and secondary schools or
LEAs to make quality decisions
regarding safe, healthy, and highperforming elementary and secondary
education facilities. Training must be
conducted upon request by the
Department, elementary and secondary
schools, States, or LEAs, and must be
conducted by appropriate Clearinghouse
staff or contractors.
Proposed Requirement 4—Technical
Assistance
An applicant must include in its
application a plan to provide technical
assistance, including a plan for
providing on-site technical assistance to
elementary schools, secondary schools,
or LEAs, about issues related to the
planning, design, financing,
procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and
maintenance of education facilities. The
technical assistance may be provided in
the form of electronic or telephone
assistance when requested by these
schools, LEAs, or the Department. Onsite technical assistance visits will be
conducted upon request by, or based on
input from, the Department, elementary
schools, secondary schools, or LEAs and
must be completed using appropriate
Clearinghouse staff or contractors. The
Department must approve in advance all
technical assistance visits.
The technical assistance must consist
of consultation regarding the planning,
design, financing, procurement,
construction, improvement, operation,
and maintenance of education facilities.
Specific technical assistance topics may
include information related to: assessing
facilities and construction plans for
energy efficiency; conducting
vulnerability assessments; and
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developing written plans to retrofit
education facilities to address identified
hazards and security concerns.
Technical assistance may also address
low-cost measures that can be taken to
enhance the safety and security of
schools.
Final Priorities and Requirements
We will announce the final priorities
and requirements in a notice in the
Federal Register. We will determine the
final priorities and requirements after
considering responses to this notice and
other information available to the
Department. This notice does not
preclude us from proposing additional
priorities, requirements, definitions, or
selection criteria, subject to meeting
applicable rulemaking requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit
applications. In any year in which we choose
to use these priorities and requirements, we
invite applications through a notice in the
Federal Register.
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Regulatory Impact Analysis
Under Executive Order 12866, the
Secretary must determine whether this
regulatory action is ‘‘significant’’ and,
therefore, subject to the requirements of
the Executive Order and subject to
review by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB). Section 3(f) of Executive
Order 12866 defines a ‘‘significant
regulatory action’’ as an action likely to
result in a rule that may—
(1) Have an annual effect on the
economy of $100 million or more, or
adversely affect a sector of the economy,
productivity, competition, jobs, the
environment, public health or safety, or
State, local or tribal governments or
communities in a material way (also
referred to as an ‘‘economically
significant’’ rule);
(2) Create serious inconsistency or
otherwise interfere with an action taken
or planned by another agency;
(3) Materially alter the budgetary
impacts of entitlement grants, user fees,
or loan programs or the rights and
obligations of recipients thereof; or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues
arising out of legal mandates, the
President’s priorities, or the principles
set forth in the Executive Order.
This proposed regulatory action is not
a significant regulatory action subject to
review by OMB under section 3(f) of
Executive Order 12866.
We have also reviewed this proposed
regulatory action under Executive Order
13563, which supplements and
explicitly reaffirms the principles,
structures, and definitions governing
regulatory review established in
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Executive Order 12866. To the extent
permitted by law, Executive Order
13563 requires that an agency—
(1) Propose or adopt regulations only
upon a reasoned determination that
their benefits justify their costs
(recognizing that some benefits and
costs are difficult to quantify);
(2) Tailor its regulations to impose the
least burden on society, consistent with
obtaining regulatory objectives and
taking into account—among other things
and to the extent practicable—the costs
of cumulative regulations;
(3) In choosing among alternative
regulatory approaches, select those
approaches that maximize net benefits
(including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety,
and other advantages; distributive
impacts; and equity);
(4) To the extent feasible, specify
performance objectives, rather than the
behavior or manner of compliance a
regulated entity must adopt; and
(5) Identify and assess available
alternatives to direct regulation,
including economic incentives—such as
user fees or marketable permits—to
encourage the desired behavior, or
provide information that enables the
public to make choices.
Executive Order 13563 also requires
an agency ‘‘to use the best available
techniques to quantify anticipated
present and future benefits and costs as
accurately as possible.’’ The Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of
OMB has emphasized that these
techniques may include ‘‘identifying
changing future compliance costs that
might result from technological
innovation or anticipated behavioral
changes.’’
We are issuing these proposed
priorities, and requirements only on a
reasoned determination that their
benefits would justify their costs. In
choosing among alternative regulatory
approaches, we selected those
approaches that would maximize net
benefits. Based on the analysis that
follows, the Department believes that
this regulatory action is consistent with
the principles in Executive Order 13563.
We also have determined that this
regulatory action would not unduly
interfere with State, local, and tribal
governments in the exercise of their
governmental functions.
In accordance with both Executive
orders, the Department has assessed the
potential costs and benefits, both
quantitative and qualitative, of this
regulatory action. The potential costs
are those resulting from statutory
requirements and those we have
determined as necessary for
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 90 / Thursday, May 9, 2013 / Proposed Rules
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
administering the Department’s
programs and activities.
These proposed priorities and
requirements would benefit individual
children by supporting the development
and enhancement of safe, secure, and
healthy school practices that would
provide educators and stakeholders
with timely and useful information to
guide policy and decision making for
education facilities.
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.
Accessible Format: Individuals with
disabilities can obtain this document in
an accessible format (e.g., braille, large
print, audiotape, or compact disc) on
request to the program contact person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
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 the Code of Federal Regulations is
available via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you
can view this document, as well as all
other documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or Adobe Portable Document
Format (PDF). To use PDF you must
have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at: www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
Dated: May 3, 2013.
Deborah S. Delisle,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and
Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2013–10962 Filed 5–8–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
36 CFR Part 7
[NPS–CURE–10079; 122PPIMCURES1–
PPMPSPD1Z.YM0000]
RIN 1024–AD76
Special Regulations of the National
Park Service, Curecanti National
Recreation Area, Snowmobiles and
Off-Road Motor Vehicles
National Park Service, Interior.
Proposed rule.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The National Park Service
proposes to amend its special
regulations for Curecanti National
Recreation Area, Colorado, to designate
routes, water surfaces, and areas where
snowmobiles or motor vehicles may be
used off park roads. Unless authorized
by special regulation, the operation of
snowmobiles and the operation of motor
vehicles off road within areas of the
National Park System are prohibited.
The other existing special regulations
for Curecanti National Recreation Area
would remain in effect.
DATES: Comments must be received by
July 8, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by the Regulation Identifier
Number (RIN) 1024–AD76, by any of the
following methods:
• Federal rulemaking portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail or hand delivery to: Curecanti
National Recreation Area, 102 Elk
Creek, Gunnison, CO 81230, Attn: Ken
Stahlnecker, Chief of Resource
Stewardship and Science.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name and RIN
for this rulemaking. All comments
received will be posted without change
to www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. For
additional information, see Public
Participation under SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken
Stahlnecker, Chief of Resource
Stewardship and Science, Curecanti
National Recreation Area, 102 Elk
Creek, Gunnison, CO 81230. Phone:
(970) 641–2337x225. Email:
ken_stahlnecker@nps.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Background
History of Curecanti National
Recreation Area
The Blue Mesa Dam and Reservoir,
Morrow Point Dam and Reservoir, and
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Crystal Dam and Reservoir make up the
Curecanti Unit, one of the four main
units authorized by the Colorado River
Storage Project Act of April 11, 1956
(Pub. L. 84–485) (CRSPA). The
Curecanti Unit is also known as the
Wayne N. Aspinall Storage Unit.
Section 8 of CRSPA directed the
Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) ‘‘to
investigate, plan, construct, operate, and
maintain (1) public recreational
facilities on lands withdrawn or
acquired for the development of [the
Colorado River Storage Project] to
conserve the scenery, the natural,
historic, and archeological objects, and
the wildlife on said lands, and to
provide for public use and enjoyment of
the same and of the water areas created
by these projects by such means as are
consistent with the primary purposes of
said projects. . . .’’
Pursuant to that provision, the
National Park Service (NPS) began
managing natural and cultural resources
and recreational uses within Curecanti
National Recreation Area (CURE) in
1965 under a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) with the Bureau of
Reclamation. In 1978, Bureau of
Reclamation lands in the East Portal
area were added to CURE and placed
under the management authority of the
NPS pursuant to the MOA.
Description and Significance of
Curecanti National Recreation Area
CURE is located in Gunnison and
Montrose Counties in southwestern
Colorado. The reservoirs and the
surrounding lands provide recreational
opportunities amidst a variety of
natural, cultural, and scenic resources,
including recently discovered dinosaur
fossils, a 5,000-acre archeological
district, and traces of 6,000-year-old
dwellings. Approximately one million
people visit CURE annually to take
advantage of numerous recreational
opportunities. Most visitors come
during the summer months when
temperatures are warmer and waterbased activities are more popular.
The recreation area contains water
resources, including three reservoirs
that provide a variety of recreational
opportunities in a spectacular geological
setting. Blue Mesa Reservoir is one of
the largest high-altitude bodies of water
in the United States. It provides an
exciting diversity of water recreation
opportunities for windsurfers, sail
boaters, and water skiers.
Motor Vehicle and Snowmobile Use Off
Road at Curecanti National Recreation
Area
Visitors to CURE use motor vehicles
to access campsites, fishing spots,
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 90 (Thursday, May 9, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27129-27132]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10962]
[[Page 27129]]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter II
[Docket ID ED-2013-OESE-0062]
Proposed Priority and Requirements--Education Facilities
Clearinghouse
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Proposed priority and requirements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CFDA Number: 84.215T.
SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education
proposes a priority and requirements under the Education Facilities
Clearinghouse program and may use one or more of the priority and
requirements for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years.
We intend to award funds under a cooperative agreement to support the
collection and dissemination of best practices for the planning,
design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement, operation,
and maintenance of safe, healthy, and high-performing elementary and
secondary education facilities. We intend to establish a Clearinghouse
to help stakeholders recognize the linkages between the school facility
and three areas: Academic instruction, student and community well-
being, and school fiscal health.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 10, 2013. We
encourage you to submit comments well in advance of this date.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments submitted by fax or by email. To ensure we do not
receive duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. In
addition, please include the Docket ID and the term ``Education
Facilities Clearinghouse'' at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under ''How
To Use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section.
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery. If you mail or
deliver your comments about these proposed priorities and requirements,
address them to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
(Attention: Education Facilities Clearinghouse Grants-Comments), U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Potomac Center Plaza
(PCP) Room 10073, Washington, DC 20202-6450.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing in
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly
available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Rattler. Telephone: (202) 245-7893
or by email: Pat.Rattler@ed.gov.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
this notice. To ensure that your comments have maximum effect in
developing the notice of final priorities and requirements, we urge you
to identify clearly the specific priority or requirement that each
comment addresses.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 and their overall
requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result from these
proposed priorities and requirements. Please let us know of any further
ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits
while preserving the effective and efficient administration of the
program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this notice in Room 3W110, 400 Maryland Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.,
Washington, DC time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal
holidays.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary to aid an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Education Facilities
Clearinghouse is to provide technical assistance and training on the
planning, design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement,
operation, and maintenance of safe, healthy, and high-performing
elementary and secondary education facilities.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 7131; 7243-7243b.
Background
The Education Facilities Clearinghouse is intended to assist
States, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools in creating
safe, healthy, and high-performing education facilities by collecting
and disseminating best practices for facilities planning, design,
financing, procurement, construction, improvement, operation, and
maintenance.
With this array of services, it is the Department's intent to use
the Education Facilities Clearinghouse to assist education stakeholders
in creating and sustaining higher quality environments for students,
educators, and their communities. There is a growing body of research
linking school facility quality to educational outcomes and documenting
inequality in the distribution or quality of facilities:
Inequality in School Facilities: There are significant
inequalities in capital investment and in the availability of science
labs, art rooms, music rooms, and gymnasiums between schools in low-
income areas and schools in more affluent areas.\1\
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\1\ U.S. Department of Education: National Center for Education
Statistics, Public School Principals' Perceptions of Their School
Facilities: Fall 2005, NCES 2008-011 (Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics, 2008), retrieved April 2013.
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Facilities and Health: Air quality, acoustics, levels of
thermal comfort, and lighting can affect the health and well-being of
school occupants and have been linked in a small number of studies to
student educational outcomes.\2\
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\2\ Earthman, G.I., C.S. Cash, and D. Van Berkum. 1995.
``Student achievement and behavior and school building condition.''
Journal of School Business Management, 8(3): 26-37; and Shaughnessy,
R., U. Shaughnessy, et al. 2006. ``A preliminary study on the
association between ventilation rates in classrooms and student
performance.'' Indoor Air 16(6):465-468.
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Facilities and Communities: School facilities affect
students and their communities. School siting, size, efficiency, and
design have implications for the community surrounding the school.\3\
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\3\ ``School Siting Guidelines,'' Environmental Protection
Agency, accessed April 2013, https://www.epa.gov/schools/siting/.
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Facilities and Behavior: There is evidence of a link
between various
[[Page 27130]]
aspects of a school's physical environment, on the one hand, and
problematic student behavior in high schools and the retention of
teachers across elementary and secondary schools, on the other
hand.4 5
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\4\ Buckley, Schneider, and Shang, The Effects of School
Facility Quality on Teacher Retention in Urban School Districts.
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. February 2004,
retrieved April 2013. https://www.ncef.org/pubs/teacherretention.pdf.
\5\ Revathy Kumar, Patrick O'Malley, and Lloyd Johnston,
``Association between physical environment of secondary schools and
student problem behavior: A national study, 2000-2003,'' Environment
and Behavior 40, no. 4 (2008): 455-486, retrieved December 2012 from
DOI: 10.1177/0013916506293987.
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With the proposed priority and requirements, we seek to build on
the efforts we began with the FY 2010 Education Facilities
Clearinghouse competition by clarifying the major goals of the
Clearinghouse in order to address many of the concerns about the status
of education facilities and by aligning this program with the
Department's other initiatives relating to health and safety. One such
initiative is the U.S. Department of Education's Green Ribbon Schools
(ED-GRS) program.
Proposed Priority
This notice contains one proposed priority.
Proposed Priority--Establishment of the Clearinghouse
Background
With the proposed priority, we reaffirm the central purpose of the
Clearinghouse, as stated in the notice inviting applications announced
for the FY 2010 competition (75 FR 34441), and clarify the major goals
of the Clearinghouse's core activities. The purpose of the
Clearinghouse is to provide technical assistance and training on the
planning, design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement,
operation, and maintenance of elementary and secondary school
facilities. The major goals we seek to address with this priority are:
First, to highlight the role that school facilities might play in
reducing education inequity and facilitating increased academic
achievement; second, to better align the work of the Clearinghouse with
the ED-GRS program; and, lastly, to preserve the role of the
Clearinghouse in helping schools retrofit their facilities to increase
security and student safety.
The ED-GRS program honors schools that are exemplary in three key
areas: Reducing environmental impact and costs; improving the health
and wellness of students and staff; and providing effective
environmental and sustainability education, which incorporates science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), civic skills, and green
career pathways. To better align with the first two GRS-ED key
activities, the proposed priority would direct the Clearinghouse to
help education stakeholders understand how to use education facilities
to improve community health and safety and student achievement,
identify cost-saving opportunities, and increase the quality of school
time spent outdoors. More information regarding the ED-GRS program can
be found at https://www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbon-schools/.
Proposed Priority
Establish a Clearinghouse to collect and disseminate research and
other information on effective practices regarding the planning,
design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement, operation,
and maintenance of safe, healthy, and high-performing facilities for
elementary and secondary schools in order to--
(a) Help education stakeholders increase their use of education
facilities to turn around low-performing schools and close academic
achievement gaps;
(b) Increase understanding of how education facilities affect
community health and safety and student achievement;
(c) Identify potential cost-saving opportunities through
procurement, energy efficiency, and preventative maintenance;
(d) Increase the use of education facilities and outdoor spaces as
instructional tools and community centers (e.g., outdoor classrooms,
school gardens, school-based health centers); and
(e) Increase capacity to identify hazards and conduct vulnerability
assessments, and, through facility design, increase safety against
hazards, natural disasters, and intruders.
Types of Priorities
When inviting applications for a competition using one or more
priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute,
competitive preference, or invitational through a notice in the Federal
Register. The effect of each type of priority follows:
Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, the Department
considers 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 (1)
awarding additional points, depending on the extent to which the
application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2)
selecting an application that meets the 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 priority.
However, we do not give an application that meets the priority a
preference over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
Proposed Requirements
The Assistant Secretary proposes the following requirements for
this program. We may apply one or more of these requirements in any
year in which this program is in effect.
Background
The following proposed requirements describe the four core
activities of the Clearinghouse: Developing and maintaining a Web site
to facilitate public access to electronic resources and research;
developing resource materials and compiling best practices to assist in
the creation of safe, healthy, and high-performing facilities;
developing and implementing training programs for various education
stakeholders; and providing direct, specialized technical assistance to
schools and LEAs. With these requirements, we seek to clarify that the
applicant must include in its application its plan to implement these
four core activities.
Proposed Requirement 1--Establish and Maintain a Web Site
An applicant must include in its application a plan to establish
and maintain a dedicated, easily-accessible Web site that will include
electronic resources (e.g., links to published articles and research)
about the planning, design, financing, procurement, construction,
improvement, operation, and maintenance of safe, healthy, and high-
performing facilities for elementary and secondary schools. The Web
site must be established within 120 days of receipt of the award and
must be maintained for the duration of the project.
Proposed Requirement 2--Track and Compile Best Practices and Develop
Resource Materials
An applicant must include in its application a plan to track and
compile best practices at the State, LEA, and school levels and a plan
to develop
[[Page 27131]]
resources that support the planning, design, financing, procurement,
construction, improvement, operation, and maintenance of safe, healthy,
and high-performing facilities for elementary and secondary schools.
Proposed Requirement 3--Training
An applicant must include in its application a plan to develop and
conduct at least two training programs per year for individuals in
leadership positions (such as business or operations managers) in
elementary or secondary schools or LEAs, who are responsible for the
construction and or maintenance of elementary and secondary education
facilities. Training topics must include information on the planning,
design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement, operation,
and maintenance of education facilities in order to improve the
capacity of elementary and secondary schools or LEAs to make quality
decisions regarding safe, healthy, and high-performing elementary and
secondary education facilities. Training must be conducted upon request
by the Department, elementary and secondary schools, States, or LEAs,
and must be conducted by appropriate Clearinghouse staff or
contractors.
Proposed Requirement 4--Technical Assistance
An applicant must include in its application a plan to provide
technical assistance, including a plan for providing on-site technical
assistance to elementary schools, secondary schools, or LEAs, about
issues related to the planning, design, financing, procurement,
construction, improvement, operation, and maintenance of education
facilities. The technical assistance may be provided in the form of
electronic or telephone assistance when requested by these schools,
LEAs, or the Department. On-site technical assistance visits will be
conducted upon request by, or based on input from, the Department,
elementary schools, secondary schools, or LEAs and must be completed
using appropriate Clearinghouse staff or contractors. The Department
must approve in advance all technical assistance visits.
The technical assistance must consist of consultation regarding the
planning, design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement,
operation, and maintenance of education facilities. Specific technical
assistance topics may include information related to: assessing
facilities and construction plans for energy efficiency; conducting
vulnerability assessments; and developing written plans to retrofit
education facilities to address identified hazards and security
concerns. Technical assistance may also address low-cost measures that
can be taken to enhance the safety and security of schools.
Final Priorities and Requirements
We will announce the final priorities and requirements in a notice
in the Federal Register. We will determine the final priorities and
requirements after considering responses to this notice and other
information available to the Department. This notice does not preclude
us from proposing additional priorities, requirements, definitions, or
selection criteria, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking
requirements.
Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use these priorities and requirements, we invite
applications through a notice in the Federal Register.
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Regulatory Impact Analysis
Under Executive Order 12866, the Secretary must determine whether
this regulatory action is ``significant'' and, therefore, subject to
the requirements of the Executive Order and subject to review by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Section 3(f) of Executive Order
12866 defines a ``significant regulatory action'' as an action likely
to result in a rule that may--
(1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more,
or adversely affect a sector of the economy, productivity, competition,
jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local or
tribal governments or communities in a material way (also referred to
as an ``economically significant'' rule);
(2) Create serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an
action taken or planned by another agency;
(3) Materially alter the budgetary impacts of entitlement grants,
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients
thereof; or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in
the Executive Order.
This proposed regulatory action is not a significant regulatory
action subject to review by OMB under section 3(f) of Executive Order
12866.
We have also reviewed this proposed regulatory action under
Executive Order 13563, which supplements and explicitly reaffirms the
principles, structures, and definitions governing regulatory review
established in Executive Order 12866. To the extent permitted by law,
Executive Order 13563 requires that an agency--
(1) Propose or adopt regulations only upon a reasoned determination
that their benefits justify their costs (recognizing that some benefits
and costs are difficult to quantify);
(2) Tailor its regulations to impose the least burden on society,
consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives and taking into
account--among other things and to the extent practicable--the costs of
cumulative regulations;
(3) In choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, select
those approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential
economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other
advantages; distributive impacts; and equity);
(4) To the extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather
than the behavior or manner of compliance a regulated entity must
adopt; and
(5) Identify and assess available alternatives to direct
regulation, including economic incentives--such as user fees or
marketable permits--to encourage the desired behavior, or provide
information that enables the public to make choices.
Executive Order 13563 also requires an agency ``to use the best
available techniques to quantify anticipated present and future
benefits and costs as accurately as possible.'' The Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB has emphasized that these
techniques may include ``identifying changing future compliance costs
that might result from technological innovation or anticipated
behavioral changes.''
We are issuing these proposed priorities, and requirements only on
a reasoned determination that their benefits would justify their costs.
In choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, we selected those
approaches that would maximize net benefits. Based on the analysis that
follows, the Department believes that this regulatory action is
consistent with the principles in Executive Order 13563.
We also have determined that this regulatory action would not
unduly interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the
exercise of their governmental functions.
In accordance with both Executive orders, the Department has
assessed the potential costs and benefits, both quantitative and
qualitative, of this regulatory action. The potential costs are those
resulting from statutory requirements and those we have determined as
necessary for
[[Page 27132]]
administering the Department's programs and activities.
These proposed priorities and requirements would benefit individual
children by supporting the development and enhancement of safe, secure,
and healthy school practices that would provide educators and
stakeholders with timely and useful information to guide policy and
decision making for education facilities.
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.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
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 the
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the
site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at:
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Dated: May 3, 2013.
Deborah S. Delisle,
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2013-10962 Filed 5-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
