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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

FY 2025 March Expenditure Report (BUDG-25)

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.