Education Paperwork Requirements Are Burdensome: Better Federal Controls Needed | U.S. GAO

Highlights

GAO reviewed the Department of Education and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implemention of specific legislation designed to reduce the education-related Federal paperwork burden.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter	Status	Comments
Congress should amend the Control of Paperwork Amendments of 1978 to limit Education's review and coordination authority to Education information collection requests.	Closed – Not Implemented	This problem has been corrected by the: (1) Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980; (2) revised SF 83; and (3) revised OMB Circular A-40. Further, despite staff briefings on this issue, Congress has taken no action on this issue.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should take steps to implement the education amendments' requirements including such provisions as reports to Congress, procedures for submitting required information to a single agency, and establishment of uniform reporting dates.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should strengthen and streamline Education's review operations by consolidating the forms required to process information collection requests and formalize guidelines for conducting information collection request reviews.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should achieve further burden reduction by ensuring that, except under urgent or very unusual circumstances, education-related requests are not imposed on respondents unless they have been approved and publicly announced by February 15 preceding the new school year and by identifying and eliminating unauthorized forms.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should work with OMB in developing efficient coordinating procedures for reviewing education-related requests and ensuring that Education has the major role of identifying such requests as directed by the education amendments of 1978.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Management and Budget	The Director of OMB should provide direction for the review and approval of education-related information collection requests, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, by issuing official guidance on proper coordinating procedures between Education and OMB.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should coordinate with OMB its development of the Federal Information Locator System to ensure that Education and OMB do not develop redundant systems and consider the OMB system as one alternative for meeting Education's legal requirement for an automated indexing system.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should conduct feasibility and cost analyses of various automated indexing system alternatives before updating and expanding the existing system or converting it to another computer language.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should analyze the completed studies to select the best alternative, comprehensively plan for implementing this alternative, and then develop and use an effective automated indexing system.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Education	The Secretary of Education should reactivate the Federal Data Acquisition Council and ensure that it meets regularly and performs its duties as required by law.	Closed – Implemented When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

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Topics

Data collectionEducation program evaluationInformation systemsMonitoringReporting requirementsReports managementPaperwork reductionFederal agenciesRedundancyVeterans