Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Charter Online Management and Performance System (COMPS) Charter School Programs (CSP) Credit Enhancement Annual Performance Report (APR)

AGENCY:

Office of the Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Department of Education (ED).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the Department is proposing a new information collection request (ICR).

DATES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before January 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for proposed information collection requests should be submitted within 30 days of publication of this notice. Click on this link www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain to access the site. Find this information collection request (ICR) by selecting “Department of Education” under “Currently Under Review,” then check the “Only Show ICR for Public Comment” checkbox. Reginfo.gov provides two links to view documents related to this information collection request. Information collection forms and instructions may be found by clicking on the “View Information Collection (IC) List” link. Supporting statements and other supporting documentation may be found by clicking on the “View Supporting Statement and Other Documents” link.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For specific questions related to collection activities, please contact Andrew Brake, 202–453–6136.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Department 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 Online Management and Performance System (COMPS) CSP Credit Enhancement APR.

OMB Control Number: 1810–NEW.

Type of Review: A new ICR.

Respondents/Affected Public: Private Sector.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 82.

Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 2,050.

Abstract: This request is for a new OMB approval to collect the Annual Performance Report (APR) data from Charter School Programs (CSP) Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program (CE) grantees.

The Charter School Programs was originally authorized under title V, part B, subpart 1, sections 5201 through 5211 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. For fiscal year 2017 and thereafter, ESEA has been amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), (20USC 7221–7221i), which reserves funds to improve education by supporting innovation in public education and to: (2) provide financial assistance for the planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools; (3) increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the United States; (4) evaluate the impact of charter schools on student achievement, families, and communities, and share best practices between charter schools and other public schools; (5) encourage States to provide support to charter schools for facilities financing in an amount more nearly commensurate to the amount States typically provide for traditional public schools; (6) expand opportunities for children with disabilities, English learners, and other traditionally underserved students to attend charter schools and meet the challenging State academic standards; (7) support efforts to strengthen the charter school authorizing process to improve performance management, including transparency, oversight and monitoring (including financial audits), and evaluation of such schools; and (8) support quality, accountability, and transparency in the operational performance of all authorized public chartering agencies, including State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and other authorizing entities.

Specific to the CE program, grant funds are awarded to demonstrate innovative methods of helping charter schools to address the costs of acquiring, constructing, and renovating facilities by enhancing the availability of loans or bond financing and used by grantees to assist one or more charter schools to access private-sector capital to accomplish one or more of the following objectives: (1) The acquisition (by purchase, lease, donation, or otherwise) of an interest (including an interest held by a third party for the benefit of a charter schools) in improved or unimproved real property that is necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter schools; (2) The construction of new facilities, or the renovation, repair, or alteration of existing facilities, necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter school; (3) The predevelopment costs required to assess sites for purposes of paragraph (1) or (2) and that are necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter school.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is requesting authorization to collect data from CSP grantees within the CE program with new APR tool. The former APR data collection package for CE grantees was discontinued in March 2023. The CSP made revisions to the questionnaire aimed at reducing grantee burden ( e.g., eliminating questions) and collecting more accurate and useful program data ( e.g., identifying joint transactions with other CE grantees). To further these aims, CSP is planning to collect the APR data through a web-based system used to collect APR data from other CSP program grantees.