Race to the Top Fund rule (2011)
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The Race to the Top Fund rule is a significant rule issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services effective May 27, 2011, that established requirements for the Race to the Top Fund, which "seeks to spur reform of the country's education system," according to the rule.[1][2]
Timeline
The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:
- May 27, 2011: The final rule took effect.[1]
- April 27, 2011: The Department of Education published a final rule adopting the interim final requirements without changes.[1]
- May 3, 2010: The Department of Education closed the comment period.[2]
- April 2, 2010: The Department of Education published interim final requirements and opened the comment period.[2]
- November 18, 2009: The Department of Education published a notice of intent to apply for the Race to the Top Fund for Fiscal Year 2010. The deadline to apply was January 19, 2010, for Phase One and June 1, 2010, for Phase Two.[3]
- November 18, 2009: The Department of Education published a final rule to establish the Race to the Top Fund.[4]
Background
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The Obama administration established the Race to the Top Fund in 2009 in an effort to provide grants to "states that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform" and "achieving significant improvement in student outcomes," according to the rule. The grant program directed states to focus on four key areas:[4]
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The Department of Education published a notice of intent to apply in the Federal Register on November 18, 2009, to direct states on planning their budgets for their grant applications. The notice also directed states on the application deadlines for Phase One and Phase Two of the Race to the Top program. Following the Phase One deadline, the department analyzed the submitted applications and found that "there was significant variability in the extent to which State budget requests conformed to the Department's suggested budget ranges," according to the rule.[2]
In response to the analysis of the Phase One applications, the department issued an interim final rule to establish mandatory budget limits for the Phase Two applications. The department adopted the budget guidance as final on May 27, 2011.[2][1]
Summary of the rule
The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:
| “ | The U.S. Secretary of Education (Secretary) adopts as final, without changes, the interim final requirements for the Race to the Top Fund to incorporate and make binding for Phase 2 of the competition State budget guidance.[1][5] | ” |
Summary of provisions
The following is a summary of the provisions from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[2]
| “ | Interim final requirements: The interim final requirements add a section entitled “Budget Requirements,” specifying that State Race to the Top budgets must conform to the budget ranges developed by the Department.
Reasons: In Phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition, States' budget requests varied widely and almost every applicant exceeded the budget ranges suggested in the NIA. The Department did not expect that States would propose budgets that differed so significantly from the suggested budget ranges, which, as indicated previously, were developed based on current State population data. We believe that States can propose successful Race to the Top plans within these ranges because we did not find a relationship between States' scoring ranks and the extent to which States exceeded the Department's suggested budget ranges. By requiring States to conform to specific budget ranges, we will ensure that the Secretary can fund, at an adequate level, multiple high-quality applications.[5] |
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Significant impact
- See also: Significant regulatory action
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) deemed this rule economically significant pursuant to Executive Order 12866. An agency rule can be deemed a significant rule if it has had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. The term was defined by E.O. 12866, which was issued in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.[1]
Text of the rule
The full text of the rule is available below:[1]
See also
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Federal Register, "Race to the Top Fund," April 27, 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Federal Register, "Race to the Top Fund," April 2, 2010
- ↑ Federal Register, "Overview Information; Race to the Top Fund; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010," November 18, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Federal Register, "Race to the Top Fund," November 18, 2009
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
