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NOTICE: Part IV

DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of an altered system of records.

SUBJECT CATEGORY: Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

DATES: The Department seeks comments on the altered system of records described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act. We must receive your comments on or before January 2, 2004.

The Department filed a report describing the revisions to the system of records covered by this notice with the Chair of the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the United States Senate, the Chair of the Committee on Government Reform of the United States House of Representatives, and the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on November 26, 2003. The changes made in this notice will become effective on the later of (1) the expiration of the 40day period for OMB review on January 5, 2004, or (2) January 2, 2004, unless the system of records requires changes as a result of public comment or OMB review. The Department will publish any changes resulting from public comment or OMB review.

DOCUMENT SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) publishes this notice of an altered system of records entitled ``Presidential Scholars Program Files and PSAonline Application System (180603),'' last published in the Federal Register on December 27, 1999 (64 FR 72392 72393). The system contains information about the current and former candidates and finalists in the Presidential Scholars recognition program, including the name, Social Security number, address, phone number, and other biographical information provided by the student, such as SAT/ACT scores, school transcripts, and essays. A new component, the ``PSAonline'' application system, which will be made available to the public in 2004, replicates exactly the content of the existing paperbased application system, but allows applicants and school staff to submit applications electronically through links on the Department's Web site. The paperbased option for submitting applications remains available.

SUMMARY: Education Department,

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish in the Federal Register this notice of an altered system of records maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing the Privacy Act are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in 34 CFR part 5b.

The Privacy Act applies to information about an individual that contains individually identifiable information that is retrieved by a unique identifier associated with each individual, such as a name or Social Security number. The information about each individual is called a ``record'' and the system, whether manual or computerbased, is called a ``system of records.'' The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish notices of systems of records in the Federal Register and to prepare reports for OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or makes a significant change to an established system of records. Each agency is also required to send copies to the Chair of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Chair of the House Committee on Government Reform. These reports are intended to permit an evaluation of the probable or potential effect of the proposal on the privacy or other rights of individuals.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may view this document, as well as all other Department of Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.

To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 18882936498, or in the Washington, DC, area at (202) 5121530.

Note: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/index.html .

Dated: November 26, 2003.
Laurie M. Rich,
Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs.

For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs of the U.S. Department of Education publishes a notice of an altered system of records to read as follows:
180603

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Melissa Apostolides. Telephone: (202) 2050512. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1800877 8339.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding paragraph.