Average Daily Membership (ADM) is calculated using data submitted in the Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS) system. Data capture stores a static copy of ADM every month on the data capture deadline. ADM is the basis of state aid funding. Monthly state aid payments are a percentage of the annual equalization assistance less previous payments year-to-date.

Ensure data is reconciled and free of integrity errors before the monthly data capture dates. Reports are published at School Finance Reports. 

The FY 2026 API is available from 06/01/2025 to 07/15/2026.

*Alternative to FY 2026 AzEDS data available for the first two payments only. Districts will be paid based on AzEDS prior-year student counts, which do not apply to Charters. Charter will be paid based on estimated counts submitted via the ADEConnect Charter Estimated Counts application.

There was an error in our recent automated email notifications regarding the certification process for the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) application. The emails incorrectly stated that the certification period is currently open. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused and appreciate your understanding. Rest assured, you will receive a notification when the application officially opens on May 7, 2025, and again when the certification window opens on July 23, 2025. 

Continue reading for important information regarding the Special Education Data Dashboard application and its processes. 

Special Education Data Dashboard 

The Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) is scheduled to open on May 7, 2025. SEDD is a comprehensive platform for Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to securely access federally mandated special education and statewide public data with redaction features. Through this application, PEAs enter, review, and certify special education data required under Section 618 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  

Application Access  

The roles below can access the SEDD application and can only be assigned by the local ADEConnect Entity Administrator within the PEA. Only one role should be assigned per user, and it should be applied at the parent entity (district) level:  

• ESS SEDD: LEA User  
  • Data Entry and Review only  
• ESS SEDD: LEA Signer  
  • Data Entry, Review, and Certification  
  • This role is designated for SPED directors, superintendents, business managers, and other equivalent titles. 

Reporting Requirements  

Even if a PEA did not provide services to any special education students throughout the school year, the PEA is still required to review this data during the review period and certify this information during data certification.   

• Public School Districts  
  • Exit data, including tuitioned-out students  
  • Discipline data, including tuitioned-out students  
  • Students Without Disabilities (SWOD), if applicable  
  • Preschool Transition  
• Charter Schools  
  • Exit data, including tuitioned-out students  
  • Discipline data, including tuitioned-out students  
  • Students Without Disabilities, if applicable  
• Secure Care Facilities  
  • Exit data  
  • Discipline data

Important Dates  

• May 7, 2025: SEDD opens  
  • Validate that users have the correct access to the application  
  • Begin reviewing/entering data, if applicable  
• July 15, 2025: Student data submission deadline  
  • All student data in AzEDS must be corrected in PEA’s SIS  
  • Preschool Transition and SWOD data entry via the SEDD application  
• July 23, 2025: Data certification opens  
  • Users with the ESS SEDD: LEA Signer role must complete electronically 
• August 6, 2025: Data certification deadline 
  • PEAs who fail to certify may have their IDEA funds placed on hold 

Training and Office Hours  

We are conducting a training session via Microsoft Teams to help PEAs meet these reporting requirements. If you cannot attend this event, a video of the webinar will be made available later.  

Date: Thursday, May 8, 2025  
Time: 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  
Register for the online training. 

Office hours will be available to assist PEAs with questions in troubleshooting their data. We aim to begin office hours starting Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Additional information regarding office hour registration will be provided during the SEDD webinar and published to the SEDD website when available.  

We hope to see you during the SEDD webinar!

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the ESS Data Management inbox or call us at 602-542-3962.

Nationally Recognized for Academic Achievement

PHOENIX - The Arizona Department of Education has selected Ed Pastor Elementary School in Yuma and Tsaile Elementary School in Chinle as National Distinguished Schools for the State of Arizona.

The National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators (NAESPA) has been recognizing high achieving, federally funded schools through the National ESEA Distinguished Schools program since 1996. This program celebrates schools nationwide that have made significant academic progress by effectively utilizing Title I federal funds to enhance student educational outcomes.

Horne stated, “I want to offer my congratulations to these two schools for their dedication to academic excellence. The educators and students have done a great job taking their education seriously and making the gains that are needed to earn this distinction, and they should be proud of their efforts.”

Each year, the program highlights the success of schools in one of three categories:

· Category 1: Exceptional student performance and academic growth

· Category 2: Closing the achievement gap between student groups

· Category 3: Excellence in serving special education populations of students such as homeless, migrant, English learners, among others.

Ed Pastor Elementary School is a is a Category 3 winner and Tsaile Elementary School is a Category 2 winner. Both have demonstrated extraordinary success in improving student achievement and closing the achievement gap. Both schools will receive a check for $10,000, a digital package, and statewide recognition on the Arizona Department of Education Distinguished Schools website.

More information about the National ESEA Distinguished Schools program, including the 2024 honorees, is available on the ESEA Network website: www.ESEAnetwork.org/ds.

BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.  FY 2025 April BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2025 April BSA-55 information.

• District BUDG-25 reports are available to download from this School Finance website. For further instructions on how to navigate the website, please view this Hot Topic.

• District BUDG-75 reports are available to download from the School Finance website

• District BSA-55 reports are available to download from the School Finance website

Please contact the Budget Team ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Ignoring federal guidance is not optional

PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes is wrong in claiming that the Arizona Department of Education has no legal authority to withhold federal funds to districts and charters that fail to comply with new guidance regarding Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs, according to Superintendent Tom Horne.

Horne said, “I spent four years as Attorney General, and I follow the law strictly. The Arizona Department of Education has been responsible for distributing both federal and state education dollars to the schools for many decades and we must do so in accordance with the law. The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidance that requires my department to certify that all public districts and charters that take federal money use those funds according to that guidance, and that cannot be ignored. If I did, we would risk losing nearly $770 million in total federal funding to all public schools. That is obviously unacceptable, but the Attorney General is either unconcerned or unaware of that catastrophic scenario.”

Here are excerpts from the attached Secretary McMahon “Dear Colleague” letter that explains the role of all educational institutions, including State Education Agencies, and the threat of losing funds:

• Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon "systemic and structural racism" and advanced discriminatory policies and practices. Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" ("DEI"), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.
• But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.
• Other programs discriminate in less direct, but equally insidious, ways. DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not. Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school.
• All educational institutions are advised to: (1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law; (2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and (3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.
• Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding.

These are excerpts from the attached formal Title VI Guidance also outlining the issue and the role of all public education agencies:

• Given the text of Title VI and the assurances you have already given, any violation of Title VI—including the use of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion ("DEI") programs to advantage one's race over another—is impermissible. The use of certain DEI practices can violate federal law. The continued use of illegal DEI practices may subject the individual or entity using such practices to serious consequences, including:
  • l . The use of the provisions of 42 U.S.C. 2000d-l to seek the "termination of or refusal to grant or to continue assistance under such program," eliminating federal funding for any SEA, LEA, or educational institution that engages in such conduct. [1]

Requested Certification:

On behalf of [SEA/LEA], I acknowledge that

I have received and reviewed this Reminder of Legal Obligations Undertaken in Exchange for Receiving Federal Financial Assistance and Request for Certification under Title VI and SFFA v. Harvard. I further acknowledge that compliance with the below and the assurances referred to, as well as this certification, constitute a material condition for the continued receipt of federal financial assistance, and therefore certify our compliance with the below legal obligations.

On April 3 and again on April 9, the state department, through its Grants Management system, notified all public districts and charters regarding this guidance as well as an attestation that the guidance will be followed.

Under the guidance, districts and charters have until April 24th to certify compliance. Failure to do so will require the state – as the fiscal agent - to put a hold on federal dollars. To date, approximately 350 districts and charters out of 658 have certified compliance.

To help districts and charters finalize their May 15th Expenditure Budget revisions, School Finance has put together updated preliminary annual FRPL, DAA, and CAA one time funding apportionment amounts. The data that was used for these values comes from the preliminary data for the FY25 May state aid payments that uses the AzEDs data capture date of 4/15/2025.

Please note that these values are not the final values that will be used for the second payment of these apportionments. Data based on the FY25 June state aid payments that use the 5/15/2025 data capture date will be used to finalize payment 2 for each of the supplemental fundings. As a result, the finalized data is subject to change compared to the values provided in the spreadsheet.

For school districts, please review this Hot Topic for more information about how to include these supplemental apportionments in your Expenditure Budget.

Please see this spreadsheet for the updated preliminary values: FRPL, DAA, CAA One Time Funding Update

New law restricts schools from providing harmful foods on campus

PHOENIX – A new state law that restricts schools from providing harmful foods on campus is being celebrated by schoolchildren joined by state lawmakers and schools chief Tom Horne at a commemoration of the bipartisan bill’s being signed into law by the Governor.  

HB 2164 was sponsored by Rep. Leo Biasiucci of Lake Havasu City and creates restrictions on public schools serving or selling food containing ingredients shown in scientific studies to be harmful, such as potassium bromate, propylparaben, titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, yellow dyes 5 and 6, blue dyes 1 and 2, red dyes 3 and 40 and green dye 3. This comes amid growing concerns about ingredients that potentially cause significant health risks for children.

Horne said, “This is a familiar crusade for me. In 2006, I was successful in getting sugared sodas out of schools, and I am very enthusiastic that this legislation has become law. We need to eliminate harmful foods from public schools and vending machines. Synthetic food dyes are associated with behavioral issues which then affect a child's ability to perform academically and engage socially. Replacing foods that contain these ingredients and synthetic dye with those that are minimally processed is achievable. This is already done in Europe. Manufacturers have worked over the past few years to remove trans-fat and reduce sodium to meet USDA requirements, so this change is both desirable and possible.”

Rep. Biasiucci noted, “Our kids deserve better than artificial dyes and cheap fillers in their lunches. If we’re providing meals at school, they should be real, nutritious food—not the kind of processed junk that’s banned in other countries. This law puts the health of Arizona’s children first, plain and simple.”

Issues warning over DEI policies

PHOENIX – The Kyrene school district in Phoenix will give up more than $1.5 million in federal funds now that the governing board has adopted a policy that further embeds Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) language into district operations, according to state schools chief Tom Horne. He adds that all Arizona districts and charters are on notice to take this matter seriously.

At its April 8 meeting, the district’s governing board unanimously approved a “Staff Social Emotional Wellness Policy” that states, “Policy 1-204 Equal Opportunity - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion outlines Kyrene’s commitment to value, respect, and celebrate diversity in the workplace.” This is contrary to recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education that says schools promoting DEI will forfeit federal dollars.  For the upcoming school year, the Kyrene district is expected to have a federal allocation of more than $1.5 million for funds to schools with low-income students, for teacher training and other programs.

Horne said, “Kyrene and any district or charter that is not taking the federal DEI guidance will lose their federal dollars. The U.S. Department of Education has been abundantly clear with its most recent guidance against the use of DEI language in schools. Federal law and the 14^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution are clear that no person shall be discriminated because of race, skin color or ethnicity, and this guidance aligns completely with my philosophy. By contrast, the use of DEI programs does just the opposite and promotes racial discrimination. Schools ignore the federal guidance at their own peril. This is not an empty threat, and districts and charter schools need to treat it seriously.”

The U.S. Department of Education sent a notification to state education agencies nationwide last week that educational institutions receiving federal funds must stop “using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring, promotion, scholarship, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and other programs and activities.” The Arizona Department of Education has sent the federal guidance certification letter to districts and charters noting the federal requirement to respond by April 24. Failure to respond or to certify compliance will result in the department putting a hold on funding by the close of business on April 24. The department has certified its own compliance.

Horne concluded, “The most interesting philosophical divide in our country right now is between those like me who believe in individual merit, and those who want to substitute racial entitlement. DEI is all about racial entitlement. The problem with racial entitlement is that it does nothing to promote hard work, conscientiousness, or creativity. If those advocating for it succeed in having it replace individual merit, we will become a mediocre, third world country. China will become the dominant power.”

ADE/ESS is excited to announce two fantastic opportunities at the 2025 IDEA Conference: Access Cultivates Opportunities, happening August 20–22, 2025, at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix, Arizona.

Nominations for Arizona Secondary Transition Services Awards

Recognize outstanding contributions to secondary transition services across Arizona. Learn more and nominate a youth/young adult, community member, or educator for their exceptional efforts by submitting an online nomination form.  

Nomination Categories:

• Youth/Young Adult: Actively engaged and successfully navigating the secondary transition planning process.
• Community Member: Providing exemplary support for students and/or young adults with disabilities to enhance community-based experiences.
• Educator: PEA or Secure Care-certified staff, support staff, related service providers, or administrators offering remarkable secondary transition services.

Submit your nominations by Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Award winners will be notified in July.

Call for Student Artwork

Showcase student talent at the IDEA Conference! If you know a student artist interested in displaying his or her artwork, please view the Call for Student Artwork flyer linked below for more details. Please complete the 2025 Student Artwork Entry form before Tuesday, May 27, 2025, to have artwork considered for display.

Please email the IDEA Conference inbox for questions about nominations or student artwork submissions.

Download our flyers for more information on the Secondary Transition Services Awards and Call for Student Artwork.

Will forward updated information to schools

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is forwarding to schools statewide the new guidance issued today by the U.S. Department of Education requiring schools to acknowledge they will follow federal civil rights law and avoid the use of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. Schools that do not comply with the federal guidance risk losing federal funding.

Horne stated, “Title VI of federal civil rights law is clear that no person shall be discriminated on the basis of race, skin color or ethnicity, and this aligns completely with my philosophy. The 14th amendment to the Constitution says the same thing. By contrast, the use of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs does just the opposite and promotes racial discrimination. That has no place in education or society, and I have been working diligently to get it out of schools in Arizona. For example, the department requires every public school to attest on their School Report Cards that they respect all students as individuals, avoiding concepts like Critical Race Theory that promote racial division.  We are all individuals entitled to be judged by what we know, what we can do and our character, and not by our race. I agree with this guidance from the U.S. Department of Education because it upholds the 14th amendment to the Constitution and the laws that protect people from discrimination. Schools need to follow those laws and our Constitution.”

By the close of business today, the department will forward the document provided by the U.S. Department of Education that requires all public schools to attest that they will comply with the guidance in order to continue to receive federal dollars. Schools will have until April 14 to respond.

A copy of the letter is attached.