Department of Education August 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Secretary intends to use grant slates developed in FY 2014 for the GEAR UP Program authorized by Section 404A of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), to make new grant awards in FY 2016. The Secretary takes this action because a number of high-quality applications remain on the FY 2014 State and partnership grant slates and limited funding is available for new grant awards in FY 2016. We expect to use an estimated $20,000,000 for new awards in FY 2016.

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

The Secretary of Education (1) invites publishers to submit tests for review and approval for use in the National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS); and (2) announces the date by which publishers must submit these tests.

On April 25, 2016, we published in the Federal Register (81 FR 24070) a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2016 for the Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund Development competition. The Department reopens the FY 2016 i3 Development Grants competition for, and will accept applications from, certain prospective eligible applicants affected by the severe storms and flooding beginning on August 11, 2016, and continuing, in Louisiana. We are reopening this competition in order to help affected eligible applicants compete fairly with other eligible applicants under this competition.

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

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing a new information collection.

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

The Secretary amends the regulations governing a number of programs administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to implement changes to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Act) made by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, signed on July 22, 2014. The Secretary also implements changes to the Act made by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, signed on August 7, 1998, that have not previously been implemented in regulations, and otherwise updates, clarifies, and improves RSA's current regulations.

The Departments of Education (ED) and Labor (DOL) (or, collectively, Departments) issue this Joint Final Rule to implement jointly administered activities authorized by title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) signed into law on July 22, 2014 (hereafter ``Joint WIOA Final Rule''). Through these regulations, the Departments implement workforce education and employment system reforms and strengthen the nation's public workforce development system to provide increased economic opportunity and make the United States more competitive in the 21st century evolving labor market. This Joint WIOA Final Rule provides guidance for State and local workforce development systems that increase the skill and credential attainment, employment, retention, and earnings of participants, especially those with significant barriers to employment, thereby improving the quality of the workforce, reducing dependency on public benefits, increasing economic opportunity, and enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of the nation.

The Secretary invites institutions of higher education (institutions) that participate in the Federal student financial assistance programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), to apply to participate in a new institutional experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI). Under the ESI, the Secretary has authority to grant waivers of certain title IV, HEA statutory or regulatory requirements to allow a limited number of institutions to participate in experiments to test alternative methods of administering the title IV, HEA programs. The alternative methods of title IV, HEA administration that the Secretary is permitting under this ESI experiment are designed to facilitate efforts by institutions to evaluate certain innovative loan counseling practices that can prepare students to manage their college finances, inform them about their student loan repayment options, and ensure students are well-prepared to repay their loans on time. Under this experiment, participating institutions will have the flexibility to require additional loan counseling for student borrowers beyond the statutorily required one-time entrance and one-time exit counseling as a condition for the students to receive Direct Loan funds, and to customize counseling based on students' needs.

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.

On June 23, 2016, we published in the Federal Register (81 FR 40877) a notice inviting applications (NIA) for the Promoting Student Resilience fiscal year (FY) 2016 competition. The NIA established a deadline date of July 25, 2016, for the transmittal of applications. This notice reopens the competition until August 19, 2016.

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.

This notice is a republication of a May 24, 2016 notice (81 FR 32737) to include information that was missing from the original version. The only change to this version is in the ``Education Savings and Asset Protection Allowance'' table under the ``Parents of Dependent Students'' section, where the first row of information was missing from the original notice. No other information has changed. The Secretary announces the annual updates to the tables used in the statutory Federal Need Analysis Methodology that determines a student's expected family contribution (EFC) for award year 2017-18 for these student financial aid programs. The intent of this notice is to alert the financial aid community and the broader public to these required annual updates used in the determination of student aid eligibility.

The Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education announces priorities under the Enhanced Assessment Instruments Grant program, also called the Enhanced Assessment Grants (EAG) program. The Assistant Secretary may use one or more of these priorities for competitions using funds from fiscal year (FY) 2016 and later years. These priorities are designed to support projects to improve States' assessment systems.

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.

On July 8, 2016, we published in the Federal Register (81 FR 44741) a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2016 for the Promise Neighborhoods program (Promise Neighborhoods NIA). This document corrects two dates in the Promise Neighborhoods NIA.