Department of Education April 23, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, and its regulations contain several existing provisions that require State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools to collect and disseminate information. The Paperwork Reduction Act covers these activities, which are currently approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1810-0581 (expires April 30, 2012). The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has invited each SEA to request flexibility on behalf of itself, its LEAs, and schools, in order to better focus on improving student academic achievement and increasing the quality of instruction (ESEA flexibility). As of April 17, 2012, 11 SEAs have had their ESEA flexibility requests approved, 27 SEAs' requests are pending, and 5 SEAs have indicated that they intend to request ESEA flexibility in September 2012. Of particular relevance to this collection is ED's expectation that, overall, ESEA flexibility will result in less burden on SEAs, LEAs, and schools compared with current law absent this flexibility. The burden estimate for this collection is therefore substantially lower than that of the currently approved collection.