Data Capture Reminder – 08/15/2025

Data in AzEDS will be used to calculate ADM for Payment 3.

Payment 3 will be based on data captured that is passing integrity and generating ADM in AzEDS. There is no option for districts to be paid on prior year data, or for charters to be paid on estimated counts.

Please ensure data is reconciled and free of integrity errors prior to the data capture date. Review the following reports in AzEDS:

• INTEG15 – ensure data is free and clear of membership ADM Integrity errors
• STUD10 – validate all students are listed in AzEDS
• ADM15 – ensure all students expected to generate funding are indicated as fundable
• ADM20, SPED20, and EL20 – ensure ADM amounts for each ADM type 

Important Note: FY26 Calendars need to be submitted, approved, and certified for ADM and funding to be generated.

FY 2026 Monthly Payment and AzEDS Processing Schedule

If additional assistance is needed, please submit a HelpDesk ticket.

Recent SCOTUS ruling prompts reminder of parents’ rights

PHOENIX – With many Arizona schools now starting the new school year, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that parents can withdraw students from offensive classes is prompting schools chief Tom Horne to remind parents of their right to ensure schools are concentrating on academics and avoiding inappropriate lessons.

Horne said, “The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that parents have the Constitutionally protected right to opt their children out of classes when their religious beliefs conflict with course material. As the new school year begins, I am urging parents to be aware they have the power to ensure their child’s school is concentrating on academics, not social indoctrination.”

He continued, “In fact, earlier this year my office was alerted to a completely outrageous set of lessons at a Tucson-area school in which the teacher told his students that people of certain faiths want to kill LGBTQ people, students should doubt their religious beliefs, not trust their parents and suggested how to “progress” through a sex change, among other things. The teacher retired, and the matter was closed. But this is exactly the type of situation that was addressed in this recent Supreme Court decision.”

He added, “If inappropriate content is discovered in a school setting, I am urging any parent, educator or concerned citizen to bring it to the attention of the department’s Empower Hotline. The hotline allows parents to report inappropriate content being taught that detracts from teaching academic standards. These include those that focus on race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit, and promoting gender ideology.”

He concluded, “Students need education in reading, writing, math, science, history, and the arts. The inappropriate lessons about which parents are complaining are a distraction from these crucial academic subjects. My principal goal has been to bring back academic focus into the classrooms.”

ESS/Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) is proud to announce the release of the SY 2025–2026 Programmatic Monitoring Manual. This manual is intended to assist public education agencies (PEAs) in participating in and preparing for programmatic monitoring activities. The forms associated with programmatic monitoring activities can be found on the PSM website under Differentiated Monitoring Activities.

Please contact your PEA’s assigned specialist with questions. 

Issues statement

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne issued the following statement rebutting an effort by Attorney General Kris Mayes to take credit for the end of a federal review of grant funding.

Supt. Horne said:

“Attorney General Mayes issued a statement claiming that the federal government released school funds because of a lawsuit that she joined against the federal government. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The federal government never canceled those funds. It delayed paying them in order to do a study to make sure they were being used properly for education purposes.

On July 25, I issued a press release pointing out that when the pause occurred a lot of people panicked thinking the money would go away entirely.  I said at the time that this was merely a positive review.

The federal government released the funds upon conclusion of the study, as had been foreseen, and not because a court case was filed. One thing we know for sure about the Trump administration is that if they wanted to cancel the funds, the response to the lawsuit would’ve been to appeal it up the chain to the United States Supreme Court, if necessary. They do not just throw in the towel when sued, if anything, a lawsuit like that gets their back up.

In this case they never intended to cancel the funds but only to have a pause for a study. I clarified this for the public and that is exactly what happened.

Also, the funds were released on July 25. The Attorney General‘s release today is behind the times.”

Back by popular demand beginning August 2025, the National Resource Center for Paraeducators (NRCP) and the Center for Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education (TAESE), in partnership with the ADE/ESS, have organized a new year of monthly, low-cost professional learning webinars for paraeducators, related service providers (RSPs), teachers, administrators, etc.

Join the NRCP on the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for exciting topics and presenters! This year, topics include the following:

• Aug 9, 2025—Bullying & Cyberbullying Prevention
• Sep 13, 2025—Secondary Education & Transition Planning
• Oct 11, 2025—Instructional Differentiation & Dyslexia Support
• Nov 8, 2025—Accommodations vs. Modifications
• Dec 13, 2025—Behavior Management
• Jan 10, 2026—Intro to Artificial Intelligence in Education
• Feb 7, 2026—Career Advancement for Paraeducators
• Mar 14, 2026—Support for Low Incidence Disabilities
• Apr 11, 2026—Paraeducator Roles & Responsibilities
• May 9, 2026—Visual Supports & De-escalation Techniques
• Jun 13, 2026—The Trauma-Responsive Paraeducator
• Jul 11, 2026—Teamwork & Collaboration in Schools

Teacher and paraeducator teams are encouraged to sign up together. The $100 registration fee includes 12 live webinars and extended access to the recordings until August 2026. There is a limited number of seats at this discounted price, so register now to save your spot!

Register for Saturday Mornings with the NRCP!

Please see the NRCP flyer for additional information about the professional learning series, and email Laura Lema with any questions.

ADE/ESS recently notified Transporting School Districts in fiscal year (FY) 2025 that they will be required to complete the Statement of Assurances annually.  Additionally, special education data reporting requirements for FY 2026 will be expanded as required by the Department in the assurances for the application for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) federal funds.

Please read the attached memo for details and contact ESS Data Management with any questions.

Fiscal Year 2026 Truth in Taxation Report can be accessed here.

If you have any questions regarding this report, please contact the School Finance Budget Team at [email protected].

ESA staff focused on serving parents

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne says recent comments made by Governor Hobbs’ spokesman that Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) staff are a “wasteful bureaucracy” are a reckless insult to state employees who are understaffed, under tremendous pressure and working hard to serve parents who choose the education that is best for their child. 

Horne stated, “The governor’s spokesman has demeaned state employees by calling ESA professionals a ‘wasteful bureaucracy.’ Defining people as waste is a terrible insult. No matter what her personal opposition, the ESA program exists to give parents’ choice when local schools don’t meet their children’s needs, and people are needed to serve those parents. That is not wasteful; it is essential.”

In recent legislative testimony, ESA Director John Ward stated the program distributed $869 million in Fiscal 2025, which is $100 million more than the Department of Education distributes for all federal programs in the state. The Arizona Department of Education has 300 employees to manage federal programs, while ESA has only 40 to handle a larger workload. The ESA program has grown from $100 million to nearly $1 billion and enrollment has expanded from approximately 11,000 accounts in 2011 to more than 90,000 today. Despite this growth, the department has been given no additional staff to handle the workload.

Ward told lawmakers, “We are always in survival mode. Our main responsibility is to get students who want to be in the program into the program, to review their purchases and to provide customer service. That is our core mission, that is what we are focused on.”

Horne added, “In 2025, the Department of Education asked the legislature for 12 additional staff members to handle the immense workload required to operate the program. This was supported in the House version of the budget, but the governor refused to consider it. Doing that while allowing her spokesman to insult state employees who are serving parents is beyond the pale.”

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT  

Upcoming change for Fiscal Year 2026 - Modification to Exit Code W3: Expelled or long-term suspension 

An update to enrollment withdrawal code W3: Expelled or long-term suspension has been introduced in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The AzEDS team has separated this code into two exit codes in an effort to further validate SPED reporting and ensure accurate data for the state. The two exit codes are listed below: 

W31: Long-term suspension 

W3: Expelled before scheduled end of school year 

Through FY25, the existing withdrawal code, W3, applies to both expulsions and long-term suspensions. In order to meet federal reporting requirements, we must be able to identify expulsions. Currently, ESS is using an annual free-form survey within the Special Education Data Dashboard for the PEAs to clarify which withdrawal codes refer to expulsions. Adding a W31 code for expulsions will improve data quality and eliminate the need for the free-form survey. 

Relevant Statutes and Requirements: 

Section 618 of IDEA 

EDFacts files FS144 and FS006 

The SPED Exit Validation Matrix has been updated for this change and published on our ESS Data Management website.  

Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding this update.    

Horne commits to disbursement as soon as possible

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne has issued the following statement regarding today’s announcement that the federal government will release grant funding that was paused for review.

Horne stated, “The release of federal funds that were being reviewed by the Trump administration is good news and no surprise to me. When the review was announced I noted that the federal government is merely ensuring that the funds are being used appropriately and not for ideological purposes. People need to be assured that their education tax dollars are being used to advance academic goals and not social indoctrination.”

He added, “When the pause occurred, a lot of people panicked thinking the money would go away entirely. I said at the time that this was merely a pause for review and that is exactly what happened. The Arizona Department of Education staff will work very hard to disburse these funds as soon as possible.”

The amount that was withheld under the review was approximately $124 million, or about one percent of overall school funding in Arizona.