DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

INVITATION: ESS Data Management Office Hours for Special Education Data Dashboard

The ESS Data Management Team is pleased to offer virtual Office Hours to our Public Education Agencies (PEAs) to further assist in meeting the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) data requirements.

Office Hours will be scheduled for one-hour increments and facilitated by a Specialist via Microsoft Teams. To schedule an Office Hours session, please visit our scheduling webpage. Sessions will be available until July 10, 2024, on a first-come, first-served basis. Only one session is available per PEA.

After scheduling a session, you will receive an email confirmation and a calendar invite containing the link to join the session at your meeting time. Please make sure you can access Microsoft Teams before your scheduled session.

If you did not attend the live webinar or an in-person SEDD training, reviewing the SEDD Webinar recording is a prerequisite for Office Hours attendees to ensure a productive session. 

These sessions are intended to assist our PEAs in meeting the data requirements of the SEDD application. Please direct any other ESS data-related questions to the ESS Data Management Inbox.

We look forward to meeting with you.

The School Finance Budget System is now available for fiscal year 2025 budget file submissions. Please navigate to ADEConnect Applications and click on “School Finance Budget System” to begin submitting your fiscal year 2025 budget files.

If you experience issues accessing the page or uploading files, please clear your browser’s cookies and cache before contacting the School Finance Budget Team at [email protected].

As a reminder, proposed Expenditure Budget files and Meeting Notifications are due by 07/05/2024, and adopted Expenditure Budget files are due by 07/15/2024.

Please review the documents for submission and publication instructions: 

• FY 2025 School District Annual Expenditure Budget Submission and Publication Instructions 
• FY 2025 Charter School Annual Budget Forms Submission and Publication Information 

Thank you!

Please see the attached memo regarding English Learner (EL) requirements for students with disabilities. As required by the regulations that implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and English Learner requirements outlined specifically in A.R.S. 15-752, all EL students, including dual-labeled students, are entitled to EL services. These regulations include providing EL services to students who are publicly funded and placed in special education programs such as Emotional Disabilities-Public (ED-P) programs, Approved Private Special Education Schools, and Residential Treatment Centers.

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

Please see the attached flyer for information about ADE/ESS virtual math professional learning offerings that are available this summer. Questions can be directed to the contacts listed in the flyer.

The Arizona Department of Education intends to consolidate ARP ESSER and ARP-HCY Funds into the current ESEA Consolidated Administration. The following programs are consolidated administrative funds for the Arizona Department of Education:

• Title I Part A
• Title I Part C
• Title I Part D, Subpart 1
• Title II Part A
• Title III Part A
• Title IV Part B
• Title IV Part B
• Title V Part B, Subpart 2

Pursuant to section 8401 of the ESEA of 1965, the Arizona Department of Education is requesting a Tydings Waiver to extend the availability of Administrative Funds until March 31, 2026.

This waiver will advance student academic achievement by addressing the ongoing administrative costs associated with ARP ESSER that would have diverted resources from services to LEAs, schools, teachers, and students. By extending the administrative funds until March 31, 2026, The Arizona Department of Education will be able to utilize the resources available more responsibly and effectively. We will be able to continue monitoring the use of funds expended during the Liquidation Extension period and allow administration of continuing programs that provide for tutoring, school improvement, and other services that enhance student achievement. Students have not fully recouped COVID-related learning loss and the Arizona Department of Education is working to ensure that students, teachers, schools, and LEAs receive the support they need to further recover from the pandemic.

Additionally, this waiver will allow the Arizona Department of Education to focus its resources on meeting students’ needs, including those that are most impacted by the pandemic, such as the Homeless and Migrant populations, Indigenous students, students with disabilities, and students in low-performing and/or low-income schools. By continuing our administration of the program, ADE will be able to support these schools as they apply for liquidation extensions and as they complete their liquidation, ensuring that remaining ESSER money is spent effectively in ways that will improve academic outcomes for our highest-need students.

The Arizona Department of Education assures that all consolidated administrative funds under the above-mentioned programs will be used in accordance with the provisions of all applicable statutes, regulations, program plans, and applications not subject to this waiver.

The Arizona Department of Education further assures that it has provided the public and all LEAs in the State with notice of, and the opportunity to comment on, this request by posting information regarding the waiver request and the process for commenting on the State Website in the manner in which it customarily provides such notice and opportunity for comment.

Review the Document

Notice of Public Comment Period

Any individual or organization may submit written comments. Written comments shall be accepted through July 6, 2024.

The 30-day public comment period for the ARP ESSER – Tydings Extension will be open from June 6, 2024, through July 6, 2024. The State will review and consider all public comments and make any necessary modifications as appropriate.

ESSER stakeholders may submit comments in writing beginning June 6, 2024, using the following methods:

• Submit electronically via the ADE/ESSER Public Comment webpage

• Submit electronically to ESSER via email

FY 2024 Prop 123 and One-Time Supplemental Payment 2.

The $75 million additional funding provided by Proposition 123 (Laws 2015, 1st Special Session, Chapter 1) for FY 2024 will be distributed in two payments: $37.5 million on December 4, 2023, and $37.5 million by June 5, 2024. Individual school district and charter allocations are based on the share of statewide weighted attending Average Daily Membership (ADM). The second $37.5 million payment was calculated based on the same ADM used for the FY24 May Classroom Site Fund payment.

The $300 million One-Time State Aid Supplemental additional funding for FY 2024 will be distributed in two payments: $150 million on December 4, 2023, and $150 million by June 5, 2024. The calculation method is the same as for Prop 123 funding, as individual school district and charter allocations are based on the share of statewide weighted attending Average Daily Membership (ADM). The second $150 million payment was calculated based on the same ADM used for the FY24 May Classroom Site Fund payment.

The file below shows the first payment amounts, second payment amounts, and total annual FY 2024 Prop 123 and One-Time State Aid Supplemental amounts per LEA. Districts are listed first by county, followed by charters alphabetically.

District and Charter Prop 123 and One Time State Aid Supplement.xlsx

Please contact the Payments team at [email protected] if you have any questions about this payment.

As a reminder, starting in FY2024, School Finance collects and maintains school district and charter contact information through the Contact Information tab within the School Finance Budget System.

Within the Budget System, Contact Information can be updated at any time by clicking on the indicated tab:

Please review this tutorial video on updating contact information. If you have any additional questions, please reach out to the School Finance Budget Team at [email protected].

Thank you!

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

FY24 Parentally Placed Private School Student Survey (PPPSS) required by all Public School Districts only (charter schools are excluded), opened on 5/15/24.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 requires that each public education agency (PEA) maintain its records and provide to the State information related to parentally placed private elementary and secondary school students covered under §§ 300.130 through 300.144.

The application opened on 5/15/24 and will close for submissions on 8/14/24.

• A PEA’s Entity Administrator must assign the role at the district level of ESS Data Surveys: User in ADEConnect to the individual who will submit this survey.

• Instructions: Parentally Placed Private School Students

• FAQs: Parentally Placed Private School Students

Once the role is assigned, please log in to ADEConnect, navigate to the Exceptional Student Services Portal (ESS), and select the ESS Data Surveys application.

From there, click on the blue hyperlinked text “FY24 Parentally Placed Private School Students Survey” to start the survey. When the survey has been completed, the application will display a webpage with the message, “Thank you for submitting.”

Please direct any questions to the ESS Data Management inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Special Education Data Updates Webinar: Wednesday, June 19, 2024

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live Special Education Data Updates webinar on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):   

• 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.

For immediate release: May 29, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne responds to Save Our Schools criticism

Says parents should be able to choose the schools that best meet their children’s academic needs

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne is responding to today’s news conference by Save Our Schools attacking the ability of parents to choose the school that best meets their children’s academic needs.

Horne said, “Statewide approximately 75,000 students are in the ESA program compared to 1,250,000 in public schools. ESAs are not a threat to public schools, but the competition they provide causes public schools to perform better as opposed to being a government monopoly which SOS prefers.”

He added, “Here is an example of why SOS is absolutely wrong on this issue: We have families that have three children. The needs of two of the children are met at the neighborhood school, but the needs of one of the children are not being met. The parents now have the ability to choose another school that meets that students’ academic needs. No one could rationally be against that unless they are so immersed in ideology like SOS is and it has made them coldhearted with respect to students’ academic needs.”

He continued, “SOS pointed to Phoenix Union losing funds because of ESA’s. Any time they lose students, they also lose the cost of educating the student, so they’re resulting funding per student in their district remains constant. In the case of ESA students, only 40 students left Phoenix Union schools for that reason during the last school year. The 1,137 cited in the department’s Quarterly Report are children who live within Phoenix Union boundaries but have either never attended a Phoenix Union school or had not in recent years. If there are students in private or charter schools who would otherwise be attending Phoenix Union, it is because the parents concluded that Phoenix Union was not meeting the child’s academic needs. This is even more so in the case of Phoenix Union for not providing the safety that the parents want for their children.”

Horne concluded “Historically, some Phoenix Union board members have been so immersed in ideology, that they neglected the academic and safety needs of students and of staff. A few years ago, when unruly students invaded in Phoenix union in School, board meeting demanding that the school eliminate School Resource Officers (police officers there to protect the safety of students and staff) the school board surrendered and eliminated those officers. That was irresponsible and undoubtedly affected some parents’ choices. However, the trend has been positive in that Phoenix Union now does have SROs.”

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