Att_D - PD Supporting Statement

DRAFT

Supporting Statement

Performance Report for the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program (OMB Form 1840-0787)

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. The Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship was authorized under Title V Part C, Subpart 1 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1104 through 1104K) and administered under 34 CFR Part 653. Both the Program statute and regulations have long since been repealed. The program was last funded in Fiscal year 1995.

Under the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program, the Department of Education issued grants to the states to provide scholarships to outstanding secondary school graduates who demonstrated an interest in teaching careers at the pre-school, elementary, or secondary level. The repealed Program regulations allowed the Department to require any reports deemed necessary to make certain that the functions of the Paul Douglas Program were carried out. Section 80.40(b)(1) of the Department of Education General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) states that ”…grantees shall submit annual performance reports…”. The information collection in this performance ensures that state education agencies are monitoring the fulfillment of the scholarship obligations by former Douglas scholars in accordance with legislation and regulations that governed the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program when the scholarships were granted.

2. Each of the former participating state education agencies provides information on the annual Performance Report to demonstrate compliance with the program’s statutory and regulatory requirements applicable at the time the funds were disbursed.

State education agencies are held accountable for evidence that former Douglas scholarship recipients meet all statutory and regulatory requirements. The designated state education agency is accountable to the Federal government for the adequate documentation of student compliance. State maintained fiscal and program records must demonstrate that former Douglas recipients complied or are complying with all the applicable statutes and regulations.

The Performance Report is the only vehicle by which Federal program officials may annually monitor and evaluate the compliance of state education agencies. Without this data collection, the Federal program officials would have no means by which to monitor, evaluate and ensure compliance with the program statute and regulations enforce at the time the scholarships were granted.

3. State education agencies are encouraged to use computer technology when feasible and cost effective. State education agency use of electronic media for the retention of records for the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program is approved under the provisions of EDGAR, section 80.42. A draft performance report will be posted on our web site informing the states as to the status of the proposed performance report. When OMB approves this collection we will reflect this on the web site.

4. A single designated agency in each state is responsible for the monitoring and reporting the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program. Each state education agency annually provides state specific data on its Performance Report that is not collected on any other form. Therefore, there is no duplication of reported information.

Similar information for each state is not available from other sources. There are no other applicable report forms available for carrying out these functions.

5. The collection of information in this program does not impact any small entities. State education agencies were the only grant recipients of the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program.

This forms only requests the information needed to evaluate the compliance of the former scholars. All the information requested should be collected routinely by a state education agency in the normal monitoring and evaluation of the remaining program activities. Thus, the reporting burden is minimal.

6. Information collection and recordkeeping must be kept on a yearly basis, at a minimum, in order to be accurate. Any lapse in the keeping of required information makes it impossible to determine accountability for use of Federal funds in compliance with statute and regulations.

7. This report form is consistent with the general information collection guidelines specified in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)(iv).

8. The State agencies were asked to review the FY 1992 edition of the Performance Report and comment in June 1993, and few comments were provided. This program has not received funding since 1995. The original form expired on August 31, 2003. The form was last used in the winter of 2003. On the advice of the Office of General Counsel (OGC), OPE stopped requiring submission of the performance report because both the statute and regulations had been repealed. However, after several states contacted the program office requesting guidance on how to comply with the requirements in effect when they won the grant awards, OGC recommended reinstating the report. A Notice was published in the Federal Register on October 13, 2005 requesting comments from the states. No comments were received. The form was reinstated in 2005 with an expiration date of February 28, 2009. The proposed FY 2009 Performance Report is similar to the previously approved form. We will publish 60-day and 30-day Federal Register Notices to allow public comment.

9. There are no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. There is no assurance of confidentiality to state educational agencies.

11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. There are a total of 57 respondents to this annual information collection. As indicated above, the burden estimated for this information collection is 12.0 hours per respondent.

Therefore the total annual burden is calculated as follows:

12.0 hours x 57 respondents = 684 hours

Professional Staff (10.0 hours @ $20.00/hr) -------------- $200.00

Support Staff (2.0 hours @ $15.00/hr) --------------------- $30.00

13. The total annual cost burden to respondents is:

Estimated annual total cost for computer usage --------- $50.00

The total for the capital and start-up cost components for this Inforamtion Collection is zero.

14. The annual cost of the federal government for the processing of this performance report is estimated to be $10,300.00. This cost includes staff time in (1) preparing, printing, and mailing reports; (2) processing the reports submitted by the States; (3) recording and analyzing the data for funding decisions to ensure state compliance with the program statute and regulations; and (4) preparation and posting of the Performance Report on the Institutional Development and Undergraduate Education Program Service web pages.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COSTS:

Professional Staff (200 hrs @ $40.00/hr) ----------------------------- $8,000.00

Support Staff (100 hrs @ $12.00/hr) ----------------------------------- $1,200.00

Computer time, Miscellaneous (Printing of document & mailing) $500.00

World Wide Web preparation and posting ---------------------------- $600.00

(One Professional Staff x 20 hr @ $30.00/hr)

T otal estimated cost to the Federal Government ------------------- $10,300.00

15. There is no adjustment of burden hours. The 684-hour burden is due to the mandatory collection of data for addressing one of the indicators for monitoring of compliance.

The hourly estimate includes identifying and collecting the relevant information, formatting and preparing the report response, securing appropriate signatures, and maintaining records.

16. Results are not intended for statistical use of publication.

17. The expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection will be displayed on the form.

18. There are none.

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