School Finance External Guidelines

Introduction

The purpose of these policies and procedures is to provide guidance to all school districts and charter districts throughout the State of Arizona on the rules and regulations, including Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) which must be followed in the reporting of information to the School Finance Unit of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). Following these procedures will assist the school districts and charter districts in complying with the reporting requirements placed upon these entities and will support compliance with the Uniform System of Financial Records (USFR) Compliance questionnaire. For additional information regarding district or charter requirements go to:

The scope of these policies and procedures is to cover information and processes relevant to reporting data, which impacts state funding, to the School Finance Unit. As legislative or system changes occur, these documents will be updated accordingly.

During fiscal year 2015-2016, districts and charters began submitting via the Arizona Education Data System (AzEDS). AzEDS and various ADE on-line applications collect data that is required by the federal government; however, because the information does not affect state funding, information on those processes is not addressed in these policies and procedures. Other units within the ADE require that school districts and charter districts submit additional information. Those units include, but are not limited to the following: Accountability, Exceptional Student Services, and the Office of English Language Acquisition Services.

Current Guidelines

This chapter provides guidance on how a calendar should be structured and submitted in order to meet statutory requirements and pass Integrity rules.

School Finance Manual A Defining the Instructional Calendar - Posted 8.12.20.pdf

For information related to FY22 Instructional Time Models, please refer to this document: School Finance Initial Guidance on H.B. 2862 for SY 2021-2022.

This chapter provides guidance on the statutory age requirements for funding, enrolling students in pre-k, and when a child is excused from being enrolled.

School Finance Manual [C] Age Requirements & Validation for Funding

This chapter describes how student attendance records should be maintained in order to meet audit requirements.

School Finance Manual [D] Compilation & Maintenance of Student Records

This chapter provides guidelines and procedures regarding defining excused absences and the effect of excessive absences on funding.

School Finance Manual [G] Defining Excused Absences (formerly EX-1)

Please keep in mind that School Finance processes that generate non-fundable ADM intervals for students that accumulate excessive absences will not be enforced for FY23.

This chapter provides definitions, procedures, and data submission details for CTEDs.

School Finance Manual [L] Career Technical Education District

This chapter provides procedures on determining a student's first day of attendance.

GE-17 First Day Absences Issued 7-07

The chapter clarifies the amount of passing time that may be included in calculations of the total instructional hours offered to students and the procedure for instances where the limit in passing time is exceeded.

GE-19 Passing Time Issued 7-1-13

This guideline clarifies whether the effective date of a sponsor approved enrollment cap amendment will be the first day of the fiscal year in which the amendment is approved or the first day of the subsequent fiscal year.

SF-0001 Enrollment Cap Amendments Issued 7-1-14

The purpose of this guideline is to provide guidance to school districts for completing the Transportation Route Report and Vehicle Inventory Report, to assist school districts in determining the types of transportation miles that are eligible for funding according to statute and Arizona Department of Education (ADE) policy, to provide records maintenance guidelines, and to provide compliance requirements as authorized by statute and ADE policy.

SF-0002 Transportation Guideline Issued 7-1-14

SF-0003 AOI Participation Modified 9-23-19

In regards to the FTE requirements specified on page 6 of 7, in the guideline SF-0003 AOI Participation Issued 7-1-14, FTE shall be based solely on subjects a student actually participates in, without regard to hours actually logged. Until the student withdraws or June 30^th, FTE may be determined based on the number of subjects in the student’s planned instructional program. ADE will review the applicability of instructional time logged to the determination of FTE. Should instructional time logged be determined to be a necessary component of FTE determination, advance notice of change will be provided.

Archive of Previous Guidelines

The following guidelines are no longer accurate and have been replaced with a School Finance Manual chapter found above. These links remain for reference to prior year practices only.

EX-1 Excused Absences Issued 11-18-09

GE-20 Absence Reporting Issued 7-1-13

GE-18 Instructional Hours and Programs Issued 7-1-13 - Archived August 2020

School Finance Manual [L] Career Technical Education District - Archived August 2022