Special Education Directors,

Arizona students with disabilities receiving special education services are reported into AzEDS to generate state funding as appropriate. Dependent on the disability, students with disabilities receive varying weighted totals under state aid. There is a fundable scenario that is not able to be reported into AzEDS at this time, which is comprised of students who require ancillary services but do not require special education instruction as outlined in A.R.S. § 15-769(D).

ESS and ADE/School Finance are seeking to gather information regarding this item from PEAs. Please see the attachment for more information and contact [email protected] with questions.

Special Education Directors,

To ensure compliance with federal reporting and program requirements for the fiscal year 2021, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is compiling data for student's special education data on October 1, 2020. Reports will be prepared using special education data that has been submitted by Arizona school districts, charter schools, and other public education agencies (PEAs) via their respective student information systems to ADE and has Passed Integrity in AzEDS accordingly. This system is a part of the October 1 Enrollment Data.

Please read the below memo (originally disseminated in November 2020) from the Arizona Department of Education regarding important information and deadlines for October 1, 2020 Enrollment Data.

Read the Memo

Student special education data must be submitted by 5:00 PM on January 15, 2021.

Please use the contact information noted in the memo for questions.

Special Education Directors,

Vouchered students are normally reported by the district of residence (DOR) that is responsible for his or her education. In certain circumstances for students receiving services through an ASDB regional cooperative, a student may be attending a public school outside of the DOR. In this case, the district that operates the school the student is attending would be considered the district of attendance (DOA). As an example, a child in a high school grade that resides in an elementary-only district would attend a school outside his or her district's boundaries, such as a neighboring unified or high school district. In these cases, it is expected that the DOA (high school or unified district) would submit the data transactions. This memo provides more guidance on this topic.

For any additional questions, please contact ESS Data Management at [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

FY21 ESS October 1 Data Collection UPDATE

ESS Data Management has released two new training videos. These training videos focuses on Phase II: Reconciliation so individuals can pick and choose the relevant training videos that meets their needs.

As a friendly reminder, please continue checking the SPED07 report on a regular basis during this time, even if your PEA’s counts reconcile early in the process. Please ensure Phase II: Reconciliation is completed in AzEDS by Friday, January 15, 2021 at 5:00 P.M.  Note there is no submission action for Phase II. Ensuring your Verification and SPED07 counts reconcile on January 15th will indicate completion.

PEAs that are unable to reconcile will need to complete Phase III: Non Reconciliation.  PEAs that are required to complete Phase III will be contacted after the January 15th deadline.

The ESS October 1 Data application is found in the ESS Portal via ADEConnect. If the ESS October 1 Data Collection button is greyed out, you must contact your local ADE Connect entity administrator for the proper role assignment to access the application: ESS October 1 Data LEA User, or ESS October 1 Data LEA Signer.

Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are located within the ESS October 1 Data application, under the Help tab.

If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT    

New AzEDS Portal Report: SPED99 – SPED Orphan Data Report 

The SPED99 – SPED Orphan Data Report is a new report now available in the AzEDS Portal.  This report will aid PEAs in finding special education (SPED) data in AzEDS that may have had the corresponding enrollment data removed.  When enrollment data is deleted for a given student but the SPED data remains in AzEDS, this is defined as orphan data.  Often this orphan data can result in errors for your PEA or other PEAs, that is unseen in your INTEG15 report, since the enrollment data is not present. 

This report will include the SPED Needs and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) categories reported that do not have corresponding enrollments.  We encourage all PEAs to check this report periodically to ensure there is no orphan data from your entity in AzEDS.   If the report is blank, then you do not have any orphan data. No further action is needed. 

If the report shows SPED Needs or LRE data, please use your STUD10 report to confirm your missing enrollment.  The SourceID will also be included, which you can use with your SIS Vendor to ensure the data is removed from AzEDS if that is the intent, or ensure the enrollment is reported. 

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

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. 

This ODC Phase II report displays a list of students aged 3-21 identified in AzEDS as receiving special education services over the October 1 child count date as of the most recent integrity run.  

To assist in the reconciliation process, please review the steps outlined in the Recommended Procedure: Verifying & Reconciling the October 1 Federal Child Count.  

The Phase II Reconciliation process is due Friday, January 15, 2021 by 5:00pm.  

Direct questions to [email protected].  

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT    
October 1 Verification Count for students attending ASDB sites. 

Further clarification is being provided regarding students attending ASDB sites and the ESS October 1 Data Collection. 

 Regardless if a student attends an ASDB site or a site within your PEA, you would include the student in your Phase I Verification Count if the student was provided services on October 1st. 

 Effective FY21, it is the responsibility of the District of Residence to report the student into AzEDS.  ASDB does not report student data into AzEDS as they have previously. 

 ASDB students missing from your AzEDS Portal reports would indicate the student is not reported properly in AzEDS. 

 AzEDS reporting should be at the site the student is physically attending for both SPED Needs/LRE and Enrollment.  Please contact ESS Data Management if you need to have the relationship established for your PEA to submit on behalf of an ASDB site.  If you need to submit a calendar for an ASDB site to report enrollment, please open a ticket in the ‘Self Service Portal’ linked at the top right of your ADE Connect homepage.  Calendars and Entity ID numbers for ASDB sites are available at the bottom of this webpage.   

Tuition Payer Codes: 

• Voucher students physically attending ASDB sites should be reported with Tuition Payer Code 7. 
• Fee-for-Service students physically attending a site within your PEA and receiving services from ASDB should be reported with Tuition Payer Code 1.  
• Voucher students physically attending a site within your PEA should be reported with Tuition Payer Code 7. 

More information is available in the ASDB Student Reporting document.

For further questions, please contact ESS Data Management. 

Special Education Directors,

Under Section 616 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA), States are required to make a determination for all public education agencies (PEAs) of their performance on identified special education criteria. The Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2018 determinations have been posted to the PEA Determinations section of the ESS website.

If you have questions regarding PEA Determinations, please email the ESS Operations unit.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   

FY 2021 October 1 Data Collection Application is now OPEN

We are pleased to announce that the October 1 Data Collection (ODC) application is accessible for the submission of the Verification Count and Personnel data.

This data along with the required electronic signature are due November 18, 2020 for Phase I of the October 1 Data Collection. Please refer to the Important Dates document for more detail on the timeline of the ODC.  More information on performing the ODC is available on our Data Management website.

Thank you for your patience.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   

FY 2021 October 1 Data Collection – Phase I opening delayed

Due to unforeseen technical issues with the October 1 Data Collection (ODC) application, the opening of the application will be tentatively delayed to October 5, 2020 or later if necessary. The Important Dates document will be updated accordingly. ODC users are encouraged to refer to this document for updates.

A follow-up alert will be sent via our Listserv to announce the status of the ODC application.

We apologize for the inconvenience.