OMB-ED Q&A August 2010

1860-0508: State Education Agency Directory (SEAD)

OMB Questions & ED Responses

August 26, 2010

1. Could ED please provide some background for why this directory will no longer include entities other than states and state sponsored entities?

ED Response:

The Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) is a collection of contact information for educational organizations throughout the United States that was maintained by the Office of Communications and Outreach (OCIO).  OCIO decided not to renew the contract that expired in September of 2009, and the Office of Communications and Outreach was tasked with oversight of the database.  We agreed that the state information provided in the collection was very importatant to our office as well as the Education Department, however the total collection (over 5000 entries) was too difficult to maintain with the staff we had available.  It was decided by the Office of Communications and Outreach that the collection would be reduced to only state and state sponsored agencies and by eliminating  records from non-profit and for-profit organizations, an accurate and useful collection could be maintained.

The State Education Agency Directory (SEAD), formerly known as the Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD), will only contain records from state and state sponsored agencies. 

We are currently in the process of notifing non-profit and for-profit organizations within the collection that we will no longer be maintaining their contact information.  After the completion ( target date September 27, 2010) the SEAD will be put online.

No information will be requested from any organization until this process is complete.

2. Were there any comments during the 60-day comment period?

ED Response:

RIMS received no public comments.