DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

SPED73 and SPED07 Report Update

Due to an issue with the Data Mart processing, the SPED73 and SPED07 reports were last updated on December 8, 2025. These reports should be updated later today, and we will send a follow-up alert to advise when they are available based on last night’s integrity run.

As a reminder, the SPED73 report provides a list of students receiving special education services, indicating whether each student was counted in the federally reported ESS October 1 Child Count.

The SPED07 report displays a list of students ages 3-21 identified in AzEDS as receiving special education services over the October 1 child count date, as of the most recent integrity run.

In the meantime, we recommend using the SPED72 report to view a student’s integrity status, which indicates whether they are passing or failing.

The final SPED07 report will be generated on Thursday, December 11, after 10:00 am.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

Updated Discipline Data Guidance Document Now Available

The ESS Data Management team would like to inform you that an updated version of our Discipline Data Reporting Guidance is now available on the AzEDS SPED Reporting page. The updated guidance offers clarification, specifying the required discipline incident reporting to align with the reporting requirements set forth by the United States Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs.

Questions related to required discipline incident reporting for special education data collection purposes can be directed to the ESS Data Management inbox.

The SPED School Concurrency vs Federal Primary Need Indicator Guidance has been modified to reflect updates for the 2025-2026 reporting year.

Direct questions to the ESS Data Management Inbox.

Office Hours 

To help you be more successful in the Reconciliation (Phase II), ESS Data Management is offering PEA’s the opportunity to meet 1-on-1 with an ESS Data Management Specialist via Microsoft Teams. Feel free to register for an appointment by visiting our Bookings page.

The FY26 training for the October 1 Data Collection – Phase II was held on Thursday, November 13, 2025. If you were unable to attend, you still can view the recorded webinar. For your convenience, you can access the webinar on Vimeo, or the ODC Webpage. 

Be sure to watch the Phase II training video prior to signing up for an appointment. 

Should you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

For the Special Education Data Updates (SEDU) webinar scheduled for tomorrow, November 19, at 2:00 PM, please note that Monica Paz from School Finance will be unable to present due to illness. While this is unfortunate, we have rescheduled this special session for Tuesday, December 2, at 2:00 PM. Save your School Finance questions for the rescheduled SEDU session with Monica Paz.  

You can register for the rescheduled session here: December 2026 SEDU.

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s SEDU webinar is still happening! With the October 1 Data Reconciliation Phase underway, we would like to use this time to provide the field the opportunity to ask general, troubleshooting questions about data reporting issues they may have. No personally identifiable information (PII), please.

For your convenience, we’ve attached a condensed version of tomorrow’s presentation for reference.

We hope you’ll take advantage of this additional SEDU session and join us!

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

SPED07 Report Now Available 

The SPED07 report is now available within the October 1 Data Collection (ODC) application for Phase II: Reconciliation.  

The SPED07 report displays a list of students ages 3-21 identified in AzEDS as receiving special education services over the October 1 child count date as of the most recent integrity run.

The SPED07 report is updated every morning at 10:00 am.

Each PEA is expected to ensure their verification count submitted in Phase I matches the count on the SPED07 report to reconcile their SPED October 1 Count for FY26. 

Please review the steps outlined in the October 1 Data Collection Manual – Phase II to assist in the reconciliation process. There are other resources available on the ESS Data Management October 1 Data Collection Page.   

The Phase II Reconciliation process is due Wednesday, December 10, 2025, by 5:00 pm.

For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm.

What makes this webinar different is that our team has invited Monica Paz, School Finance Director of Operations Support, to join us! We are aware that many data collection topics overlap between membership and special education reporting, and we wanted to offer an opportunity for both of our teams to present to public education agencies (PEAs) on these issues and clear up any misinterpretations.

This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include:      

• ADM Funding vs. Federal Funding
• 915 Process vs. ESS Data Management Data Correction Process
• PEA Calendars and Establishing Relationships for Tuition-Out Schools
• Home Placement Reporting 

Please register by clicking this link. Registration is required to attend. Note that this webinar will be recorded if you are unable to attend.

If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.  

ADE/ESS is pleased to announce that the High-Cost Child Claims have opened for the FY 2026 school year as of October 1, 2025. Respecting the amount of funding currently available for High-Cost Child Claims, ADE/ESS will ask each PEA to limit submissions to one claim per submission round, with a total of $75,000 cap per PEA for FY 2026. The cutoff date for the first submission is next Friday, October 31, 2025. If additional funding becomes available, ADE/ESS will communicate this with PEAs.

 The funding mechanisms for High-Cost Child Claims have moved from Grants Management into the ESS Vouchers Application. Please ensure your PEA staff have been given the appropriate role to access the application: ESS High Cost: PEA User. If you have any questions, please send them to the ESS Program Management inbox: [email protected].

 High-Cost Child Claims Quick Reference Guide

 DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

October 1 Data Collection Phase II Trainings for FY 2026

Annually, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is required to report special education (SPED) data to the federal government. The October 1 Data Collection (ODC) is part of that process and is required by all Public Education Agencies (PEAs). ODC has three phases:  

1. Child Count Verification and Personnel  
2. Child Count Reconciliation 
3. Child Count Non-Reconciliation (if applicable)  

During Phase II, PEAs must submit and reconcile student-level data for students with disabilities participating in a Special Education program over the October 1 child count date through AzEDS. The primary goal of Phase II is to ensure that these students align with the verification count submitted during Phase I.  

ESS Data Management is excited to offer training opportunities to assist with Phase II, including an in-person workshop and a live webinar! Listed below is the schedule for the ODC Phase II training. Please note that registration is required. Click the link on the date that best fits your schedule to register. 

Online Training via Microsoft Teams:  

Date                                                                  Time 

Thursday, November 13th, 2025,       10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Please email ESS Data Management with any questions.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   

FY 2026 October 1 Data Collection Application is now OPEN

The October 1 Data Collection (ODC) application is now open, and Phase I is underway. This phase includes the submission of your Public Education Agency (PEA) Special Education student count and personnel Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) data. 

The ODC child count is a crucial process consequential for federal reporting, determining federal allocations, and providing information for the state to make educational determinations over time.

All PEAs are required to verify the aggregate count of students receiving Special Education services over October 1, including zero counts. This is an internal count using your student information systems and student rosters; AzEDS reports should not be used to gather Phase I Verification Count.

This data is due Wednesday, November 5, 2025. More information and training is available on the ESS October 1 Data Collection website.

Please refer to the Important Dates Web Page on the ODC timeline for a complete outline of deadline requirements for this data collection.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.