Summary: 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.
Education needs to better control Federal education-related paperwork by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of its review process and by fully implementing legislation designed to reduce such paperwork. OMB needs to more effectively carry out its paperwork control oversight responsibilities by coordinating closely with Education and providing appropriate guidance. The Secretary of Education needs to reactivate the Federal Education Data Acquisition Council. Routine education-related information requests have been imposed on the public which have not been approved and publicly announced as required by law. Education has not developed the required automated indexing system for cataloging information and identifying redundant collection requests. Current actions to reactivate and update the existing system should be deferred until feasibility and cost studies of alternative approaches have been conducted. By allowing both OMB and other agencies to determine if specific requests were subject to the education amendments' review and approval provisions, inconsistencies have occurred and some education-related requests have not been identified and reviewed by Education. Further, Education has not provided adequate oversight information to Congress on its activities, and the agency's paperwork review process should be more efficient and effective. Education's authority to review other agencies' education-related information requests is unnecessary and should be eliminated.
