Frequently Asked Questions

School Finance collects student and financial data, performs analysis, apportions funds, and facilitates the completion and submission of districts’ and charters’ budget and expenditure files, as well as the annual financial reports. Additionally, School Finance provides technical assistance and guidance for compliance with state laws through electronic communications, webinars, conferences and meetings with school officials.

For more information go to: http://www.azed.gov/finance/

School Finance’s webpage is located on the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) website under the left-side navigation heading Finance / IT / Business Services. Our general e-mail address is schoolfinance@azed.gov and our main telephone number is 602-542-5695.

If you represent a District or Charter School, you have an LEA Account Analyst to assist you with issues related to your school data and information. You will find the analyst for your school at: http://www.azed.gov/Administrators/SF/Lists/LEAAccountAnalysts/AllItems.aspx

If you have questions related to school budgets, you may e-mail the budget team directly at SFBudgetTeam@azed.gov.

If you have questions related to school payments, you may e-mail the Payment Team directly at SFPaymentTeam@azed.gov

To understand how school funding is calculated, please read the School Finance Overview Presentation: http://www.azed.gov/Administrators/SF/BusRuleDocsAndPres/School%20Finance%20Overview.pdf

Equalization Formula Funding is located here: www.azed.gov/finance/files/2011/12/equalization-formula-funding.pdf

Funding of Districts vs. Charters is located here:  http://www.azed.gov/finance/files/2011/12/funding-of-districts-vs-charters.pdff

School Finance reports may be found at: http://www.azed.gov/finance/reports/

Student Counts reports for Districts and Charters may be found at:  http://www.ade.az.gov/Districts/

Budget reports for Districts and Charters may be found at:  http://www.ade.az.gov/Districts/

Instructions for researching “Submitted File Status” for Districts and Charters are found through this link. http://www.azed.gov/finance/budgets/

School Finance has forms to facilitate a variety of requests made by Districts and Charter.  Forms are located at:   http://www.azed.gov/finance/forms

A.R.S. § 15-915 allows for correction of state aid or budget limit errors for prior fiscal year(s).  Schools may submit “915 requests” in order to facilitate these changes.

Instructions for submitting a request to Correct State Aid or Budget Capacity may be found at:  http://www.ade.az.gov/schoolfinance/FAQs/DataChangeReq/915Instrs.pdf

Schools can stay informed by accessing a variety of resources provided on the School Finance portion of the ADE website.  These resources are updated in a timely manner to provide schools with the latest information they will need to meet ADE requirements based on A.R.S. § 15 Statutes.

Current Fiscal Year Memos may be found at:    http://www.azed.gov/administrators/SF/NumberedMemos/FY2014/Forms/PublicView.aspx
The Bulletin Board provides important information about the processing of school data and may be found at: www.azed.gov/Administrators/IT/bb/default.aspx

The School Finance Procedures Manual  Currently in the process of being updated.

Business Rules and Presentations is located at: http://www.azed.gov/administrators/SF/BusRuleDocsAndPres/Forms/Business%20Rules%20vs%20Presentations.aspx

This link will provides an opportunity for anyone to join the School Finance Mailing List.  To sign up click on this link:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SFAListServ/info

Information about SAIS may be found at:  www.azed.gov/student-accountability/

SAIS Support may be found at:  www.azed.gov/student-accountability/

For technical SAIS support, contact ADESupport@azed.gov

For questions about how to report your data in SAIS, schools may contact their LEA Account Analyst.   The LEA Account Analyst List may be found at:  http://www.azed.gov/Administrators/SF/Lists/LEAAccountAnalysts/AllItems.aspx