Updated U.S. Dept. of Ed. privacy requirement in line with Arizona law

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has forwarded letters from the U.S. Department of Education to Arizona public schools notifying them that they must submit documentation that shows they are following federal privacy law in order to uphold parents’ rights or risk losing federal funds.

At issue is the concern that some local education agencies have misapplied the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to withhold information from parents regarding their own children. The federal guidance generally aligns with Arizona law (A.R.S. 1-602) that states, “All parental rights are exclusively reserved to a parent of a minor child without obstruction or interference from this state, any political subdivision of this state, any other governmental entity or any other institution…”

Horne stated, “The Secretary of Education is right to be concerned about schools that have misapplied privacy law to prevent parents from being fully informed about their children’s time at school. Misinforming parents or withholding information is an outrageous abuse of a school’s authority.”

He added, “When my department established the Empower Hotline in 2023, we learned about a spreadsheet distributed in the Catalina Foothills school district with a list of pronouns chosen by students. Students were given the option of withholding information from their parents, and I publicized this matter. In the Chandler district, a lunch time Gay-Straight Alliance Club was created to discuss gender issues but also included the distribution of emancipation paperwork, which a parent only knew about because parents found it in their student’s backpack. Both examples are contrary to Arizona law. The new federal guidance requires schools to verify that such misapplications of federal privacy law are not permitted, and I fully support that effort.”

The federal guidance requires schools and the Arizona department to provide documentation assuring the U.S. Department of Education of compliance with this directive by April 30.

A copy of the letter from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is attached.​

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT  

FY26 Statement of Assurances Open for Submission 

The FY26 Statement of Assurances application is open for submission. All public education agencies (PEAs) must submit the IDEA Statement of Assurances (SOA) through the ESS Portal within ADEConnect. This is required before any FY26 activities in the Exceptional Student Services portal are allowable. The portal will block any PEA that has not completed the SOA effective July 1, 2025, which is when FY26 begins. 

The application is now open for submission and closes on June 11, 2025. 

The SOA must be submitted by the Superintendent, Charter Holder, or Special Education Director of your PEA before FY26 IDEA funding applications are approved in the Grants Management Enterprise system. 

• The PEA must assign the role of ESS Special Education: Signer in ADEConnect to the individual who will review, sign, and submit the Statement of Assurances. 

• PEAs that do not apply for IDEA funds are still required to submit the SOA. 

Please direct any questions to [email protected]. 

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT   
      

Special Education Data Updates Webinar: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include:    

• Reminders  

• Trending topics  

• Top Three Integrity Errors 

• Q&A     

Please register by clicking this link. Registration is required to attend. If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.  

MCSO pledges help as resource for parents and school districts

PHOENIX – in response to the 30 percent statewide chronic absenteeism rate in Arizona, state schools chief Tom Horne and Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan are urging law enforcement, the courts, parents and schools to make sure school-aged students are attending school and any violations of state law are promptly addressed by the legal system.

Data provided to the State Board of Education last month by the Helios Foundation shows that absenteeism rates skyrocketed for all grade levels from approximately nine percent during the 2019-20 school year to 30 percent in the 2022-23 school year.

Arizona defines chronic absence as missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason while enrolled at a given school. This results in 18 days missed in a typical 180-day school year assuming a student does not change schools.

Horne said, “I am grateful to Sheriff Jerry Sheridan for his willingness to serve as a resource for parents and school districts around the county who are dealing with this issue of repeated truancies. We have to create a motivation for parents to be sure their children go to school, and when willful violations of the law occur, they are prosecuted, which unfortunately has not always been the case. We urge city attorneys to treat truancy cases brought to them as a priority.”

He added, “The idea that a third of our students are missing 18 days of school or more is a real catastrophe and an emergency for our state. Students cannot learn if they are not in school. We need radical efforts to solve this problem. I continue to urge schools to adopt measures that call for nine unexcused absences resulting in a student failing a course and five tardies counting as an absence. I am also asking law enforcement officers to raise their awareness about this problem and be willing to issue citations for truancy and that the courts vigorously prosecute.”

Sheriff Sheridan has offered to bring awareness to the truancy issue and reinforce that students need to be in school. Under Arizona law, if parents knowingly and willingly allow their children to miss school they are in violation of a Class 3 misdemeanor. Any certified law enforcement officer in Arizona is empowered to cite parents under this law.

Sheridan said, “It isn’t safe for young kids to be out of school and wandering the streets. It’s critical that our kids are in school getting a proper education to prepare them for their future. Our first objective will be to determine if the parents need help in ensuring their children are attending school.”

He added, “Parents who fail to get their children to school are committing a misdemeanor offense and if any parents have children that refuse to attend school, those children will be dealt with at the juvenile court level.”

Dysart Unified School District Superintendent John Croteau added, “As a school district, we believe that every day in class matters. Consistent attendance is key to academic achievement, personal growth, and building strong habits for the future. Our absenteeism policy is designed to support students and families in overcoming barriers to regular attendance. The instruction delivered by our teachers in the classroom is irreplaceable—engaging, personalized, and built on daily progress. When students are present, they not only receive high-quality instruction, but also gain the skills and confidence needed to succeed.”

Under Arizona law in A.R.S. 15-802, all children between the ages of 6 and 16 years are mandated to attend an academic school where they learn, at a minimum, reading, grammar, math, social studies, and science.

A child is considered truant when they have an unexcused absence for at least one class period during the school day or they are not in attendance at school during normal school hours, except as allowed by statute. They are habitually truant if they have missed at least 5 school days within the school year.

Special Education Professionals,

MEMO Special Education ED-P Programs FY26 Update

Please see the attached memo that provides an update on the Emotional Disabilities Public (ED-P) programs.

For any questions, please contact the ESS Private Day/EDP inbox.  

Are you interested in learning more about the recent Arizona State Board of Education (SBE) rule change that affects secondary transition services?  

ADE/ESS has launched a new webpage that provides essential information and resources about this rule change. The webpage can be accessed through the following link to access background information, the next steps for public education agencies (PEAs), and the November 2024 Special Education Professionals Check-In presentation. 

We also invite you to register for and attend the in-person training hosted by the ADE/ESS Program Support & Monitoring unit and the Secondary Transition Teams. This training will cover the new Arizona State Board of Education Rule Change for Secondary Transition Services. 

Download the training flyer to share this opportunity.  

The ADE/ESS is pleased to announce that Teach Camp 6.0 is now open for registration!

After five years of supporting almost 500 new special education teachers, we are as excited as ever about Teach Camp!

Teach Camp aims to increase the retention of beginning special educators by providing them with the tools they need to survive and thrive.

Here’s what some of this year’s campers had to say about their experience at Teach Camp:

• ”I know the knowledge I'll bring back will help improve my own teaching skills and that of my coworkers as I share with them what I've learned.
• “I think this was an awesome experience, and I would recommend this to my colleagues!”
• “Great mix of learning, community, and fun!”        

Teach Camp Eligibility:

• We know there are many pathways to becoming a special education teacher in Arizona. Recent graduates from traditional teacher preparation programs, alternative certified teachers, and veteran general education teachers transitioning to special education are all welcome.
• Teach Camp is available to special education teachers who will begin their first, second, or third year of teaching special education in the fall of 2025.
• Participants must be directly employed by a school district or charter as a special education teacher.

The cost for Summer 2025 Teach Camp is $250 per teacher and includes:  

• 3-day summer “camp” to be held July 8-10, 2025, at ASU SkySong, 1365 North Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257
• Follow-up support throughout the school year, including virtual sessions and newsletters 
• A copy of The Survival Guide for New Special Education Teachers  
• A one-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children  
• Additional valuable resources     

Registration:
Registration for Teach Camp is open on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration must be approved by the special education director and completed by the district or charter organization, not the special education teacher. Please note that there is a limit of ten registrations for each district or charter. More than ten teachers from any one district or charter will be placed on a waiting list. Please be aware that we may reduce the group size per district or charter organization to accommodate the attendance of more districts/charters and budget constraints for travel reimbursement. On-site registration is not available.   

Travel Reimbursement:
Funding is available for travel costs for districts and charter organizations that are traveling 51 miles or more from the school district or charter office to ASU SkySong, 1301 North Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257.  Reimbursements will be made to the district or charter organization, not the special education teacher, via the Arizona Procurement Portal. Please note that APP registration and an additional completed State Procurement Office Form will be required.  Additional information regarding travel reimbursement will be provided to the district or charter organization once registration is completed. To be considered for travel reimbursement for the three-day summer session, registration must be completed by May 2, 2025. Reimbursement may be provided for up to five travelers per district or charter, with additional travelers added as funding permits.

Begin the registration process for Teach Camp!  

Please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox with any questions about Teach Camp.   

BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.  FY 2025 March BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2025 March 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!

The Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ArSHA) will hold its annual convention on April 11–12 in Tempe, Arizona. Hundreds of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), speech-language technicians (SLTs), speech-language pathology assistants (SLPAs), and students enrolled in SLP graduate programs will attend this event.

ADE/ESS Recruitment and Retention will staff a booth in the convention exhibit hall to recruit SLPs/SLTs/SLPAs and audiologists on behalf of Arizona’s public schools. Our booth will include information about all SLP/SLT/SLPA positions posted on the Arizona Education Employment Board (AEEB). The AEEB is a free online job provided by ADE/ESS. You can view all current speech positions on the job board to confirm if your vacancy is posted. 

The Arizona Department of Education sponsors the public school strand at the convention to support high-quality, relevant professional development for school-based speech personnel. This year’s sponsored topics include remediation of speech sound disorders, language assessment of multilingual students, assistive technology, building Tier 2 vocabulary, and keeping students engaged in speech therapy.

To be included in this recruitment effort, please post your speech positions on our job board by April 1.

For additional information, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox. 

All school districts, charter schools, secure care facilities, and the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) are required to annually administer the State Performance Plan Indicator 8 Parent Involvement Survey to parents of students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The survey opened on January 20, 2025, via ADEConnect Data Surveys and will close on May 31, 2025. Our current participation rate is 5.1%.

Mail Merge Feature: The survey application has merged the individual student login codes and parent letters. This feature will make it easier for users to disseminate parent instructions.

Additional forms and guidance can be found on the Parent Involvement Survey Info for Schools website and ADEConnect on the Data Surveys page.

If you do not already have access to the survey application or need to add additional users who should have the right to use this information and administer the survey, contact your entity ADEConnect administrator and ask to be assigned the Data Surveys: User Role. If additional assistance is needed to be assigned the User Role, use the Help Desk ticketing system via ADEConnect.

Please email the Parent Survey Inbox with questions.