ESS Program Management is excited to resume the FY24 IDEA Funding Application webinar series on Tuesday, January 9, at 11:00 a.m. Please register for the event by clicking on the link below.  

• Allowable Costs Under the IDEA - January 9, 2024
  • This session will provide a foundation-level overview of how public education agencies may spend IDEA Part B funds to support special education programs. 
• FY25 IDEA Funding Application - February 13, 2024
  • The Fiscal Year 2025 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. This webinar is targeted for special education administrators, business managers, and grant writers. 
• Maintenance of Effort - March 1, 2024
  • The IDEA requires every public education agency to maintain a level of fiscal support from state and local funds. The IDEA MOE Compliance and Eligibility tests are conducted twice a year. This session will showcase 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 What Order to Spend?  - April 9, 2024
  • 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 state and federal fund are intertwined in Arizona.
• Fiscal Year Wrap-Up - May 7, 2024
  • This session will provide guidance on how to wrap up fiscal year 2024 grants and prepare for the completion 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 16, 2024
• February 20, 2024
• March 19, 2024
• April 16, 2024
• May 21, 2024

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming PD event.

Overwhelmed by professional development? Don’t have time for a 90-minute webinar? We got you! Please join the Arizona Department of Education/Exceptional Student Services/Assistive Technology team for our spring series titled “Assistive Technology: Just One Thing” (JOT).

These fast, 30-minute sessions will showcase just one organizational or assistive technology tool or strategy that you can use in your classroom or teacher/therapist life. Are mornings or afternoons better for you? No worries—each JOT will be presented on Wednesdays at lunchtime and after school. Choose the time that works for you. The next spring session will take place on Wednesday, February 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and again from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. The topic will be “Visual Scene Displays with Click AAC”.

Visual Scene Displays (VSD) provide a way to represent meaning. They have been a part of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems for years. Here’s a new vision on using VSDs as language organization on your iOS or Android devices.  During this JOT, we will look at an exciting, free, still-developing AAC app that can be used to enhance and support students’ current AAC systems or that can be an additional tool for classroom instruction and activities. Join us for a look at the Click AAC app.  

Register for the 11:30 a.m. session

Register for the 3:30 p.m. session

If you have questions regarding this professional development opportunity, please email the AT Team inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Preschool Outcomes Reporting—New Report Available

Effective for the fiscal year 2024, Preschool Outcomes are now reported to Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS). The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requires State Education Agencies to calculate the percentage of preschool children aged 3 through 5 with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) who demonstrate improved outcomes with Social Relationships, Use of Knowledge and Skills, and Taking Action to Meet Needs.

To assist Public Education Agencies (PEAs) with reporting, the SPED12 – Preschool Outcomes History report is now available in the AzEDS portal in the SPED section. This report provides a history of preschool outcomes reported by a previous PEA. This report will allow the current PEA to gain an understanding of the student’s outcome history. Your PEA will be able to see the current outcome information and any prior outcome information for a preschool student with a disability. Any outcomes reported after the student has left your PEA (example: future outcomes) will not populate in the report. 

To access this report, a user must have the ‘AzEDS Data Coordinator – SPED Reports’ role assigned in ADEConnect. Please contact your PEA’s entity administrator to provide the role.

Email the ESS Data Management inbox with any questions regarding Preschool Outcomes reporting.

For immediate release: January 2, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
 

Superintendent Horne’s response to Governor’s ESA proposal

PHOENIX - State schools chief Tom Horne has issued the following statement in response to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ proposal for potential changes to the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program:

“My job is to administer the ESA program in line with state law, and if changes are made the Department of Education will follow them.

However, one proposal stands out because it’s already in place: The governor recommends a manual review of ESA purchases over $500. My office already reviews all expense requests regardless of amount, unlike the previous superintendent who approved many frivolous requests. In 2023, we rejected several thousand ESA applications for lack of adequate documentation and suspended almost 2,200 accounts totaling $21 million because the student was enrolled in a public school. We’ve also rejected more than 12,000 ESA purchase order requests.”

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BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website. FY 2024 December BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2024 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 FY23 BUDG-75 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:
  • Select the “Start Fiscal Year” as 2023
  • Optionally, select the “Execution Date” as 11/21/2023
  • Click “Apply”

• District BSA-55 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:
  • First, select a school district and then click “View Reports”
  • Next, scroll down the page to the “School District Reports” section.
  • Finally, click the December “PDF” button. The December BSA-55 report will appear.

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

Thank you!

For immediate release: December 21, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne refutes inaccurate claims about ESA spending and upcoming report

Governors office and ADE in discussion for weeks

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued the following response to a news release from the Governor’s office making inaccurate claims about the Empowerment Scholarship Program and a report due her office:

Horne stated, “The Department of Education has been in contact with the Governor’s office for nearly three weeks regarding this issue. They are fully aware that we are preparing the report she has requested. Nothing is being withheld.

The report is in addition to the ESA quarterly report submitted to the State Board of Education and contains much of the same information. It is also a new report that was authorized in legislation earlier this year.

The frivolous ESA spending approvals occurred under the administration of the Governor’s friend, Kathy Hoffman. By contrast in the first quarter of Fiscal 2024 alone, this department reviewed more than 15,000 ESA applications, rejecting thousands that were incomplete. We also suspended 2,200 accounts because the child was enrolled in public school, saving $21 million. Also, the latest figures show that current overall public education spending has a surplus of no less than $57 million, proving the ESA program has not impacted the state budget.

Finally, and most importantly, Merry Christmas!”

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For immediate release: December 20, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

2023 in review: Horne promotes school safety and tackles legal issues facing students and parents

Leveraging prior experience as Attorney General

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne, who also served as Attorney General from 2011 to 2015, used his considerable legal experience to protect the interests of Arizona students, parents and educators in 2023.

Horne said, “When I announced I was running to be superintendent, many friends told me I was going backwards since I had once been Attorney General. But I told them the state’s biggest problems are in education. This has manifested itself several times in 2023 as I have had to go to court to protect girls’ sports and the English language law. I’ve also made it a priority to make schools safe from attack and hired a highly experienced school safety director to spearhead that effort.”

In early 2023, Horne began implementation of the nearly $100 million school safety grant program that places armed police officers on school campuses. He urged schools to prioritize this, noting that any delay in implementing this goal would leave schools more vulnerable to a tragic catastrophe. The number of law enforcement officers in schools has nearly doubled.

Later in the year, Horne unveiled a new program that will make it possible for every available campus law enforcement officer position to be filled, despite ongoing shortages of officers in many communities. As a result, more positions in the already-funded School Safety Program will be filled with armed law enforcement officers with no new funding required.

Additionally, Horne recommended, and the State Board of Education approved, just over $45 million to pay for 566 counselors and social workers.

The safety of girls’ sports has also been a priority of Superintendent Horne in 2023.

In April, he warned that a proposed Biden administration change to Title IX, the federal law that creates a level playing field for women’s sports, would decimate the law.

A short time later, Horne was named a defendant as a lawsuit was filed challenging the state law that prohibits biological boys from playing on girls’ teams. Horne is the only remaining defendant in the case since the other named parties declined to defend the law.

The filing explains that the disruption and the unfairness caused to others by Plaintiffs insisting on unfairly competing against biological girls is undeniable. This would be devastating to girls who hope to excel but cannot because they are competing against biological boys and being deprived of scholarships.

This court action is ongoing.

Protecting the will of Arizona voters became the argument of another court matter as Horne responded to Attorney General Kris Mayes’ threat against the voter-protected English language law.

Horne argues that the initiative specifically states that ‘all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English, and all children should be placed in English language classrooms.’ The voter-protected initiative is not subject to being overruled by anyone. Horne subsequently sued the Governor and Attorney General in a case that is proceeding through the courts.

In autumn, the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel became an issue in Arizona as student clubs at a Phoenix-area high school distributed antisemitic materials. Horne stands squarely with Israel and has urged district superintendents to remove organizations that foment hatred from campuses.

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In conjunction with AzEIP, ADE/ESS/ECSE is proud to announce that the 2024 Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Summit is scheduled for February 28–March 1, 2024, from 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (MST). The three-day virtual conference will bring practitioners, administrators, leaders, and families together to share best practices for children with disabilities and of age birth to eight in:

• Early Intervention, helping families to transition children to preschool 
• Outcomes achieved through Early Intervention and preschool programming
• Instructional strategies for inclusive programs
• Supports to prevent and address challenging behaviors
• Resources to ensure that all children experience a team of professionals working with families to address the children's needs 

Registration for the Summit is now open on APLD.

Please bookmark the EI/ECSE Summit web page for updates and additional conference information.

We are also seeking presentations for the Summit. Requests for proposals are now available for Early Intervention proposals and Early Childhood Special Education proposals. Please consider submitting a presentation that represents the creative work and/or research you are doing in early intervention or early childhood special education.

ECSE appreciates your consideration in joining us to teach and learn as we work together to build high quality early childhood programs that meet the needs of all of our young children. If you have any questions, please email the ECSE Inbox.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Update for FY 2024 to Integrity Rule: -40031

An update to an integrity rule for FY 2024 will be introduced into the integrity process on SPED data shortly. This rule continues our effort to validate SPED reporting further and ensure clean data for the state.

A one-sheet Integrity Tool is available on our AzEDS SPED Reporting webpage for troubleshooting tips. An updated error message has been added to our SPED Integrity Rules Reference document.

Please note: This alert does not indicate that your entity is failing this rule. Please check your INTEG15 report in the AzEDS Portal to determine if your entity is failing any SPED Integrity Rules. 

Integrity Rule -40031

This rule validates that SPED Needs reported for students attending a school site are approved to service those needs according to the applications submitted by those entities.

This rule will now validate approved needs for all public and non-public school sites.

As a result, this rule will also fail for any student reported with the EDP need but who is not attending a site approved for EDP. All public schools sites approved for EDP are listed on the Emotional Disabilities Private/Public (ED-P) Program web page.

PEAs failing this integrity error and that are not listed as approved for EDP, please contact the ESS Private Day EDP Inbox with questions.

PEAs that fail the rule and that are listed as being approved for EDP, please contact ESS Data Management.

If the student failing this integrity error attends an approved private day school, PEAs can validate the approved needs on the Private Special Education Schools web page list.

Please contact the ESS Data Management inbox with any questions regarding this update.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Special Education Data Updates Webinar: Wednesday, January 17

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next live webinar on Special Education Data Updates on Wednesday, January 17, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):

• Reminders
• Trending topics
• Top Three Integrity Errors
• Q&A

Registration is required to attend. Register for Special Education Data Updates webinar. If you have any questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox.