Proposed changes threatened safety of girls

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne says today’s ruling by a federal judge striking down proposed Biden administration changes to Title IX is sensible and protects the dignity of girls and women competing in interscholastic sports. It is also a victory for common sense and free speech.

Last summer, Horne issued a letter to schools urging them to get legal advice before implementing the proposed new regulations. He cited a Louisiana federal court ruling that outlined how the proposal “…requires students to be allowed access to bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender identity [chosen, not at birth] requires schools to use whatever pronouns the student requests; and imposes additional requirements that will result in substantial costs to the school.” Today’s ruling striking down the changes noted that the proposed requirement regarding use of pronouns violates free speech.

Horne added, “In the past I’ve been asked by districts, as a policy matter, about their consideration of rules, permitting biological boys who have male genitalia being allowed in girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. My response was that there should be unisex bathrooms available, and if there was no room for them, the faculty bathroom should be used for that purpose. That would preserve the dignity of biological boys who identify as girls. But if they were allowed in girls’ facilities, I thought parents might well remove the girls from the school and send them to another district, charter school, or private school. So, this rule could have significantly injured public education and today’s judicial decision is a victory for common sense and free speech.”

ESS Program Management is pleased to resume the 2025 webinar and office hours series for IDEA funding. Please click the links below to register for upcoming virtual professional development opportunities for your grant writers, business managers, and others involved with the IDEA Part B funds. Additional information is posted on the ESS Program Management web page.

FY25 Webinar Series

Join the ESS Program Management team at the FY2025 webinar series. Webinars will be held on Zoom from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of each month (unless indicated otherwise). Click on the webinar title to register for the webinar. Please register 72 hours in advance if you require ADA Accommodations for the virtual webinar event.

Allowable Costs Under the IDEA – January 14, 2025

• This session will provide a foundation-level overview of how public education agencies may spend IDEA Part B funds to support special education programs.

FY26 IDEA Funding Application – February 11, 2025, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

• The Fiscal Year 2026 IDEA Part B funding applications open in March. Join the ESS Program Management team for helpful tips and tricks on how to apply for the Section 611 and Section 619 funds. The intended audience for this webinar includes special education administrators, business managers, and grant writers.

Maintenance of Effort – March 4, 2025, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• The IDEA requires every public education agency to maintain a level of fiscal support from state and local funds. The IDEA Maintenance of Effort Compliance and Eligibility tests are conducted twice a year. This session will highlight the data used for the MOE calculations and how PEAs can provide evidence of reducing state and local spending requirements. Special education administrators and business managers are encouraged to attend.

Special Education Funding: How, When, and In What Order to Spend? - April 8, 2025

• How does a SPED Director plan a budget? Which funding source is better suited for a fixed versus a variable cost? Come to this session to learn how Arizona's state and federal funds are intertwined.

Fiscal Year Wrap-Up – May 13, 2025

• This session will guide you through wrapping up the fiscal year 2025 grants and preparing for the completion of report season.

ESS Office Hours

ESS Program Management will also host Office Hours on Tuesday afternoons at 1:00 p.m. PEAs are invited to attend these informal Zoom meetings to bring questions directly to their program specialist.

• January 21, 2025

• February 18, 2025

• March 18, 2025

• April 15, 2025

• May 20, 2025

Please email the ESS Program Management Inbox with any questions about IDEA funding.

Happy New Year!

The first payment of the Free Reduced Priced Lunch (FRPL), District Additional Assistance (DAA), and Charter Additional Assistance (CAA) will be appropriated by Friday January 10th. These one-time supplemental payments will each be split into two payments- one in early January and another in June. Please view this Hot Topic for more information.

Please see the attached spreadsheets for each payment at the bottom of this Hot Topic for information about the estimated annual payment amounts and the first payment amounts.

For school districts, these funds can be allocated to either Maintenance and Operations fund 001 (M&O) and/or Unrestricted Capital fund 610 (UNR). Please report the sum of these two annual payment amounts in the following cells on the FY2025 Expenditure Budget:

• M&O:
  • Please report the allocated sum of the FRPL and DAA annual amounts on Page 7 cell J52 (line 9f) under “Other”.
  • Please note on the line in cell D52 “FRPL and DAA funding”
  • Do not report any other items in these cells without permission from ADE.

• UNR:
  • Please report the allocated sum of the FRPL and DAA annual amounts on Page 8 cell K28 (line 10c) under “Other”.
  • Please note on the line in cell E28 “FRPL and DAA funding”
  • Do not report any other items in these cells without permission from ADE.

Please note that while there are line items on the BSA55 tab in the Expenditure Budget for these one-time supplemental payments, do NOT input any values for these payments on that tab. These funds are not part of the Revenue Control Limit (RCL).

If you have any questions regarding the payment amount, please contact [email protected]. If you have any questions regarding how to input these amounts on the Expenditure Budget form, please contact [email protected]. Thank you!

Free Reduced Priced Lunch (FRPL) Worksheet

District Additional Assistance (DAA) Worksheet

Charter Additional Asistance (CAA) Worksheet

The ADE/ESS Academic Achievement and Inclusive Practices unit is pleased to announce professional learning opportunities for traumatic brain injury (TBI) featuring Dr. Sue Wolf from Empowerment Research.

TBI 404- It’s Not Just Academics
Wednesday, January 22 and 29, 2025
3:00 pm -5:00 pm

This workshop will include advanced information on acquired brain injuries and how to utilize an understanding of neurodevelopment AND brain-behavior relationships to identify and effectively impact students in the classroom and the community. The focus will be on assessments to identify assets/deficits, appropriate academic strategies targeting executive skills, and the role of problem-solving in academic coursework, STEM fields, and transition. The adult education format will be lecture, dialogue, and small/large group discussions and will include a case study of a student with a TBI. Implications for 504 and IDEA will be addressed as they impact transition services and the ADA. 

TBI 505- A Bump or a Bleed
Wednesday, February 19 and 26, 2025
3:00 pm-5:00 pm

The workshop includes advanced information on acquired brain injuries and how to utilize an understanding of (a) neurodevelopment AND (b) brain-behavior relationships to identify and effectively impact students in the classroom and the community. There is special emphasis on adolescent brain development, the role of the changing brain in transition, and exposing myths related to brain-based behaviors and mental health issues, including medication management and identification of depression and suicide prevention strategies. The options of 504 Plans under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and transition plans under the IDEA and services into adulthood under the ADA will be covered.

TBI 202- Assets, Assessments, and Analysis of Behavior
Wednesday, March 19 and 26, 2025
3:00 pm-5:00 pm

This in-depth behavior workshop will include an overview of brain-behavior relationships, the importance of the frontal lobe and the limbic system development and function, signs/symptoms of brain injury, and neurological impairments as observable behaviors. The focus will be on executive functioning, behavior management, and determining students’ strengths and assets using a hypothesis testing approach to assess and create appropriate interventions and strategies for use in the classroom and community. A "Zones of Self-Regulation" discussion will be included. The format will be a lecture with open discussion, presentation, and live Q&A.

Who should attend:  Parents and caregivers, counselors, general education teachers, special education teachers, related service personnel, administrators, support staff, behavioral health professionals, community-based professionals, or anyone who works with youth and young adults in the educational setting.

Register through Zoom

TBI 404 
TBI 505
TBI 202

If you have questions, please get in touch with  Christy Hegebush.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT  

ESS October 1 Data Collection—Phase III: Non-Reconciliation Webinar 

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team is happy to announce an upcoming October 1 Data Collection—Phase III: Non-Reconciliation training. Phase III is only for the PEAs that could not match the number of SPED students submitted in Phase I with the number of SPED students in AzEDS during Phase II. PEAs will receive an email if they qualify for Phase III on January 6th, 2025.  

The training will be hosted via a live webinar on Thursday, January 16th, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. 

Registration is required to attend. Register for the October 1 Data Collection—Phase: III Non-Reconciliation webinar.  

If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.  

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

 Statement responds to Hobbs’ letter

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne issued the following statement in response to Governor Hobbs’ letter critical of the risk-based auditing approach for Empowerment Scholarship Program reimbursements:

“The method we are instituting, known as risk-based auditing, is specifically provided for in the budget statute that the Governor signed last session. Maybe she should start reading what she signs.

Equally startling, is that she herself created the problem we are trying to solve by signing a bill to permit private school tuition to be paid under the reimbursement method, rather than going through our vendor, Class Wallet, which was previously required. This played a major role in increasing the delays and reimbursements from 30 days a year ago to over 100 days now.

The Governor played a major role in creating a problem that we now must solve by using a method provided for in a Bill that she signed.

Part of the problem appears to be that staff in the Governor’s office are slow learners.”

Arizona law (A.R.S. 15-2403 (B)), that was signed in the most recent legislative session, states: The department shall conduct or contract for annual audits of Arizona empowerment scholarship accounts to ensure compliance with section 15-2402, subsection B, paragraph 4. The department shall also conduct or contract for random, quarterly and annual audits of Arizona empowerment scholarship accounts as needed to ensure compliance with section 15-2402, subsection B, paragraph 4. The department, in consultation with the office of the auditor general, shall develop risk-based auditing procedures for audits conducted pursuant to this subsection.

The ESA program is among the most accountable program in the State. It’s responsible for demonstrating accountability through reporting that is required by statute, rules, and ad hoc requests from seven government agencies and bodies, including: Governor’s Office; Legislative Leadership; Joint Legislative Budget Committee; Attorney General’s Office (multiple units); Auditor General’s Office (multiple divisions); State Board of Education and the State Ombudsman.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

We were unable to finalize the SPED07 report yesterday as planned. AzEDS integrity processing for the evening of December 11 had to be done manually and did not finish until 2:30 pm yesterday. However, this did not affect the October 1 Special Education Reconciliation results.

As a reminder, the SPED07 report displays a list of students ages 3-21 identified in AzEDS as receiving special education services over the October 1 child count date as of the most recent integrity run.

The final SPED07 report generation is complete as of today at 10:00 am and includes integrity processing from the evening of December 12.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT  

Special Education Data Updates Webinar: Wednesday, January 15, 2025

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, January 15, 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.

When the governor, the attorney general, Save Our Schools or anyone else attack ESAs, the media come to me for a response and counterattack. I am the only statewide official who actively advocates for the value of ESAs and explains the reasons.

As a policy matter, I do not believe that parents should have to tie supplementary materials to curriculum, and it was my department that drafted the handbook adopted by the state board that did not do so.

In addition, I want to make the point that I do not hesitate to take on the attorney general when I have reasonable assurance of succeeding in the long run. I took her on over such issues as keeping boys out of girls’ sports and making sure that Spanish-speaking students are taught English. I believe I have taken on an attorney general more than any Superintendent in history.

When I received the attorney general’s message, I sent it to the most knowledgeable people in my department. I asked them to look at it, not as an advocate, because we all disagree with the Attorney General, but in a neutral way, as though they were judges to determine if they could give me a reasonable assurance of success. They analyzed the statutes on which the attorney general relied, and indicated to me that as a neutral judge, they would rule against me if I made a fight out of it and refused to comply. Getting into a fight and losing, would be much more damaging.

At the same time, I’ve had conversations with the Goldwater Institute about their suing the attorney general about this. I told him I would support them and be a witness for them if they chose to do that. A court decision, which I am appealing, held that the Department of Education does not have standing to file lawsuits itself.

In addition, I had initially indicated I would ask the state board to revise the handbook in accordance with the attorney general’s interpretation. After talking with the Goldwater Institute, I sent the attorney general an email stating that I was reconsidering, and if the Attorney General wanted a change in the handbook, the Attorney General could ask the state board. I would not do so.

In the meantime, I believe the best way to fight government overreach is to make the task as reasonable as possible. There are curriculum experts, who could make this complicated. I chose not to do so. I have sent out an example which indicates that all that is needed is to identify what part of the curriculum, the supplementary Materials are needed for it. If the curriculum does not have an appropriate spot for that, all that is required is to supplement the curriculum to which to tie the supplementary materials.