Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Charter School Facilities National Questionnaire, 55438-55439 [2014-22024]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 179 (Tuesday, September 16, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55438-55439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-22024]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2014-ICCD-0132]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Charter School Facilities National Questionnaire

AGENCY: Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII), Department of 
Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing an extension of an 
existing information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
November 17, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice should be 
submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
https://www.regulations.gov by selecting Docket ID number ED-2014-ICCD-
0024 or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the 
regulations.gov site is not available to the public for any reason, ED 
will temporarily accept comments at ICDocketMgr@ed.gov. Please note 
that comments submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the 
comment period will not be accepted; ED will ONLY accept comments 
during the comment period in this mailbox when the regulations.gov site 
is not available. Written requests for information or comments 
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the 
Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., LBJ, Mailstop L-OM-2-
2E319, Room 2E115, Washington, DC 20202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Sathya Soumya, (202) 260-0819.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed 
information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The 
Department of Education is especially interested in public comment 
addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to 
the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be 
processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden 
accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the 
Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, 
including through the use of information technology. Please note that 
written comments received in response to this notice will be considered 
public records.
    Title of Collection: Charter School Facilities National 
Questionnaire.
    OMB Control Number: 1855-0024.
    Type of Review: An extension of an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 369.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 1,107.
    Abstract: According to Part B section 5201 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act, one of the established purposes of the Charter 
Schools Program at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is to 
encourage ``States to provide support to charter schools for facilities 
financing in an amount more nearly commensurate to the amount the 
States have typically provided for traditional public schools''. To 
help achieve this purpose, the Charter School Program needs reliable 
data to understand the current facilities landscape for charter 
schools. There have been discussions on the struggles of charter 
schools for equitable and adequate access to facilities and facilities 
financing, yet there were no official studies, reports, or analyses 
explicitly discussing the facility landscape of charter schools and the 
similarities and differences between charter school and traditional 
public school facilities. The Charter Schools Program, through the 
National Charter School Resource Center, administers a questionnaire 
conducted by the Colorado League of Charter Schools to gather data on 
charter schools facilities. This data helps to assess the true 
facilities challenges of the charter schools and what actions ED and 
the SEAs must take to better financially support the facilities needs 
of quality charter schools. ED would like to continue to use and 
administer this survey in additional states and compile the data from 
all states into a facilities

[[Page 55439]]

database. ED plans to conduct this survey in approximately three to 
four states per year, depending on the size of the state and local 
resources of the CSO to support the survey. This database will provide 
comprehensive information about the facilities for charter schools and 
the issues that charter school face in trying to obtain adequate 
facilities. The League will produce a report and an analysis 
summarizing the findings per state.

    Dated: September 11, 2014.
Tomakie Washington,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, 
Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2014-22024 Filed 9-15-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P