Proposed Waivers for American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services Projects

Content

ACTION:

Proposed waivers and extensions of project period with funding.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Education proposes to waive the requirements in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations
that generally prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period extensions involving the obligation of additional
Federal funds. The proposed waivers and extensions would enable 43 American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services (AIVRS)
projects under Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.250N and one American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Training and Technical
Assistance Center (AIVRTTAC) under ALN 84.250Z, currently in their fifth year, to receive funding for an additional period,
not beyond September 30, 2027.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before May 4, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation or cannot otherwise submit your comments via www.regulations.gov, please contact the program contact person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
. The Department will not accept comments submitted after the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies,
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site
under “FAQ.”

Privacy Note: OSERS's policy is generally to make comments received from members of the public available for public viewing in their entirety
on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

August Martin. Telephone: 202-987-0116. Email: August.Martin@ed.gov.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and wish to access telecommunications relay services, please
dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed waivers and extensions notice. To ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in developing the notice of final waivers and extensions, we urge you to identify clearly the specific grantee
or grantees (listed in the table under the Background section) that each comment addresses.

We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14192 and their
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result from the proposed waivers and extensions. Please let us
know of any further ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while preserving the effective and
efficient administration of the program.

During and after the comment period, you may inspect public comments about the proposed waivers and extensions by accessing Regulations.gov.

Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who needs assistance
to review the comments or other documents in the public rulemaking record for the proposed waivers and extensions. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
.

Background: Under section 121(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the Act), the purpose of the AIVRS program is to provide grants to
the governing bodies of Indian Tribes located on Federal and State reservations (and consortia of such governing bodies) to
pay 90 percent of the total costs of vocational rehabilitation (VR) services, including services traditionally used by Indian
Tribes, to American Indians with disabilities who reside on or near Federal or State reservations.

Under section 121(c) of the Act, the purpose of the AIVRTTAC is to provide training and technical assistance to the governing
bodies of Indian Tribes, or consortia of those governing bodies, that have received an AIVRS grant under section 121(a) of
the Act, to improve the delivery of VR services to American Indians with disabilities, and to support AIVRS project personnel.

In fiscal year (FY) 2021, the Department published in the
Federal Register
notices inviting applications (NIAs) announcing grant competitions for the AIVRS program under ALN 84.250N (85 FR 83918) and
the AIVRTTAC under ALN 84.250Z (86 FR 14414) for up to five years. Forty-three AIVRS grants and one AIVRTTAC grant were awarded
from these competitions.

The Department proposes to waive the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods exceeding 60 months (five
years). Additionally, the Department proposes to waive the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2), which allow the extension
of a project period only if the extension does not involve the obligation of additional Federal funds. The waivers and extensions
would enable the Department to provide additional funds, not to exceed their Year 5 planned award amount, to projects currently
funded under ALNs 84.250N and 84.250Z for an additional period, not beyond September 30, 2027. These proposed waivers and
extensions would maximize continuity of services to those served by the AIVRS program and support grantees by providing an
efficient process by which they can obtain their grant funds for this fiscal year.

This action would allow the 43 AIVRS grantees and one AIVRTTAC grantee to submit a request for continuation funding in FY
2026. Within their request, grantees would certify that they have the capacity to continue activities. In making a continuation
award under 34 CFR 75.253, the Secretary considers, among other things: whether a grantee has made substantial progress in
achieving the goals and objectives of the project; whether the grantee has expended funds in a manner that is consistent with
its approved application and budget; and, if the Secretary has established performance measurement requirements, whether the
grantee has made substantial progress in achieving the performance targets in the grantee's approved application, or whether
the continuation of the project is in the best interest of the Federal Government.

In making a continuation award, the Secretary also considers whether the grantee is operating in compliance with the assurances
in its approved application, including those applicable to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs
or activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).

Waivers and Extensions: The Department believes that it is in the public interest to extend the AIVRS program and the AIVRTTAC in lieu of running
a new competition in FY 2026.

Extending the project end dates of the 43 AIVRS and one AIVRTTAC grants for one year will allow for efficient continuity of
VR services for American Indians with disabilities. Pending FY 2027 appropriations, there may be new competitions for all
eligible applicants.

For these reasons, the Department proposes to waive the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods exceeding
five years, as well as the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2), which allow the extension of a project period only
if the extension does not involve the obligation of additional Federal funds. These waivers would allow the Department to
consider FY 2026 continuation awards to the 43 AIVRS projects (ALN 84.250N) and one AIVRTTAC project (ALN 84.250Z) based on
their Year 5 planned amount. It is estimated that each grantee's continuation award would amount to the following, pending
review and discussion of carryover:

| PR award No. | AIVRS grantee | Amount |
| --- | --- | --- |
| H250N210001 | Coeur D'Alene Tribe | $584,798.00 |
| H250N210004 | The Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe | 520,131.00 |
| H250N210005 | Hannahville Indian Community | 539,268.00 |
| H250N210006 | Laguna Department of Education | 450,000.00 |
| H250N210008 | Intertribal Council of Central Louisiana | 677,996.00 |
| H250N210009 | Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | 450,000.00 |
| H250N210010 | The Chickasaw Nation | 1,050,000.00 |
| H250N210011 | Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation | 469,346.00 |
| H250N210012 | Kawarek, Inc. | 489,123.00 |
| H250N210013 | Oneida Nation | 475,000.00 |
| H250N210014 | Prairie Band of Potawatomie Nation | 451,334.00 |
| H250N210015 | Cook Inlet Tribal Council | 771,883.87 |
| H250N210016 | Blackfeet Tribal Business Council | 550,000.00 |
| H250N210017 | Apache Tribe of Oklahoma | 609,741.75 |
| H250N210018 | Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe | 428,051.00 |
| H250N210019 | Oglala Sioux Tribe | 829,253.15 |
| H250N210020 | Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy Reservation | 428,630.00 |
| H250N210022 | Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes | 608,181.00 |
| H250N210023 | Metlakatla Indian Community | 429,070.00 |
| H250N210024 | Three Affiliated Tribes | 427,369.00 |
| H250N210025 | Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope | 567,278.14 |
| H250N210026 | Ute Mountain Ute Tribe | 588,851.29 |
| H250N210027 | Cherokee Nation | 630,000.00 |
| H250N210028 | The Navajo Nation | 1,726,000.00 |
| H250N210029 | Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation | 219,067.00 |
| H250N210031 | Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe | 461,297.78 |
| H250N210032 | Northern Arapaho Tribe | 630,000.00 |
| H250N210033 | Hopi Tribe | 470,224.00 |
| H250N210034 | Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation | 468,784.00 |
| H250N210035 | Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation | 568,022.00 |
| H250N210037 | Pueblo of Jemez | 852,623.00 |
| H250N210038 | Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians | 527,240.00 |
| H250N210039 | Samish Indian Nation | 464,700.83 |
| H250N210040 | Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe | 529,238.00 |
| H250N210041 | Lower Brule Sioux Tribe | 763,532.00 |
| H250N210042 | Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians | 722,348.00 |
| H250N210043 | Eastern Shoshone Tribe | 534,221.00 |
| H250N210044 | United Houma Nation, Inc. | 607,394.00 |
| H250N210045 | Moapa Band of Paiute Indians | 477,055.77 |
| H250N210046 | Wichita and Affiliated Tribes | 522,683.00 |
| H250N210048 | Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska | 658,736.00 |
| H250N210051 | Association of Village Council Presidents | 624,186.00 |
| H250N210052 | Tohono O'odham Nation | 450,723.00 |
| PR award No. | AIVRTTAC grantee | Amount |
| H250Z2100001 | Northern Arizona University | 1,012,998.00 |
Any activities to be carried out during the year of these continuation awards would have to be consistent with, or a logical
extension of, the scope, goals, and objectives of the grantees' applications as approved in the FY 2021 AIVRS and AIVRTTAC
competitions. The FY 2021 AIVRS and AIVRTTAC NIAs would continue to govern each grantee's project during the extension.

Intergovernmental Review

These programs are not subject to Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

The Secretary certifies that the proposed waivers and extensions of the project period would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. The only entities that would be affected by the proposed waivers and extensions
of the project period are the current ALN 84.250N and the ALN 84.250Z grantees, and any potential new applicants who might
have applied in the FY 2026 grant competitions.

The Secretary certifies that the proposed waivers and extensions would not have a significant economic impact on these entities,
because the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance costs, and the activities required to support
the additional year of funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require unnecessary Federal supervision.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This notice of proposed waivers and extensions of the project period does not contain any information collection requirements.

Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
, individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will provide the requestor
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Federal Register
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by using the article search feature at www.federalregister.gov.

Kimberly Richey, Acting Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary, Delegated the authority to perform the functions and duties of
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. [FR Doc. 2026-06438 Filed 4-1-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4000-01-P

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