The FY2024 AZ Course Catalog has a change in the SEI courses where they no longer reference the time in an ELD Block. Please use only AZ01078 for grades 9-12 and AZ51060 for grades K-8. All other codes that have been used will need to be deleted or updated to reflect one of the two course codes for FY2024 as shown in the following table. The FY2024 AZ Course Catalog may be found here.

*Removed as of FY2024. Please change to AZ01078 for Secondary (9-12) or AZ51060 for Primary (K-8) grades

August's data capture for the September 22nd payment is 08/15/23 at 5 pm.

Please ensure data is reconciled and free of integrity errors prior to the data capture date. Review the following reports in AzEDS:

• INTEG15 – ensure data is free and clear of membership ADM Integrity errors
• STUD10 – validate all students are listed in AzEDS
• ADM15 – ensure all students expected to generate funding are indicated as fundable
• ADM20, SPED20, and EL20 – ensure ADM amounts for each ADM type 

Important Note: FY24 Calendars need to be submitted, approved, and certified for ADM and funding to be generated.

Please submit a School Finance HelpDesk ticket if data assistance is needed.

The transportation submission window for FY23 has been extended to 8/25/23.

The window for districts to submit transportation Vehicle Inventory and Route data is extended to Friday, 8/25/2023.

The FY24 calculation of Transportation Support Level (TSL) dollars is dependent on Vehicle Inventory data submitted for FY23. If you have not done so, please submit your transportation data now via ADEConnect.

Please refer to the following resources:

• Transportation Data Submission Video
• Transportation Manual 
• Transportation FAQ

Reminder: When entering vehicle mileage data, do not enter a date in the Meter End Date field. This will cause the vehicle to be marked as ‘retired’. If you inadvertently retire a vehicle, you can put the vehicle back ‘in service’ by editing the mileage and removing the meter end date***

Questions regarding submitting Vehicle Inventory and Mileage data should be submitted via HelpDesk.

Fiscal Year 2024 published budget reports have a new website

This new website contains all published budget reports for school districts. You can now view and access all budget reports in one central location starting with the fiscal year 2024 Truth In Taxation report.

To access this website, please click here.

On this website, you can filter for the range of fiscal years you would like to access reports by using these filters:

The “Execution Date” filter is optional.

For the tabs with varying aggregation levels, district level reports will appear under “Lea Reports,” which is the default tab.

To find your district, you can use the filters at the top of the column or use the search bar by typing in either your Ed Org ID or Ed Org Name.

After filtering for your district, click on the blue text under “Report File Name” to download your report.

If you have any questions regarding this report, please contact the School Finance Budget Team at [email protected] or (602) 542-5695 option 2.

For immediate release: August 2, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

AZED holds first School Safety Task Force meeting
Focus on integrating law enforcement and social work for improved safety

PHOENIX – Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne convened the first School Safety Task Force today with a focus on getting more armed officers in schools in concert with social workers to protect Arizona’s schoolchildren, educators, and staff.

Horne stated, “Protecting the lives of our children is one of the most important issues we face. We hope that the School Safety Task Force will work to increase the number of law enforcement officers and social workers in schools as well as using our role in Career and Technical Education to encourage more people to consider law enforcement as a profession.”

He added, “I am grateful for all of the educators, law enforcement professionals, community leaders and both Democrat and Republican elected officials who have come together in this vital, bipartisan effort.”

In the meeting, department staff reported that funding for School Resource Officers (SROs) has been utilized to expand the number of SROs from 190 in the previous administration to 301 currently. In addition, 522 social workers and counselors have been funded.

Among the challenges posed to the task force are the need for additional counselors, social workers and law enforcement officers to address staffing shortages.

As work continues, the group will explore ways to integrate counselors and social workers into an effective School Safety Program, expand the definition of an SRO in accordance with state certification requirements so the applicant pool can be enlarged. Also, they will consider allowing schools to hire School Safety Officers (SSOs), review training models, and review Law Related Education.

The department is also working to expand its role in Career and Technical Education (CTE) to encourage students to consider public safety careers. Currently, 122 high schools12 CTE Districts statewide are training 72,292 students for careers in public safety.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Updates to Reporting Developmental Delay

To be eligible for Developmental Delay (DD), students must be younger than ten (10) years of age. Effective fiscal year 2024, students reported with the DD need will fail integrity, receiving error -40072, two months before their tenth birthday. This new rule will aid in ensuring that Public Education Agencies (PEAs) meet evaluation timelines and update the DD need appropriately. If DD is not updated by the student’s tenth birthday, integrity will fail with the updated error -40041. 

IDEA regulations allow states to determine eligibility for special education to children aged three through nine who are experiencing developmental delays in one or more of the following areas: physical development; cognitive development; communication development; social or emotional development; or adaptive development [34 C.F.R. 300.8(b)]. Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) state that “Developmental delay” means performance by a child who is at least three years of age but under ten years of age on a norm-referenced test that measures at least one and one-half, but not more than three, standard deviations below the mean for children of the same chronological age in two or more of the following areas: cognitive development; physical development; communication development; social or emotional development; [or] adaptive development” [A.R.S. 15-761(3)].

The following integrity rules ensure PEAs are aware of a DD student’s upcoming birthday:

• -40072 - Student Need of DD must be re-evaluated and have an exit date before the student’s 10th birthday.

• -40041 - Invalid age for need code DD.

Please email ESS Data Management with any questions.

Registration for the 2023 Special Education New Director Symposium (SENDS) is closing soon, so please be sure to register if you are beginning your first or second year as a special education director.

The purpose of this professional learning opportunity is to prepare new special education directors for the practical operation of a special education system. Topics covered in SENDS include compliance and legal requirements, fiscal issues, assessment, general supervision, and ADE supports and resources.

SENDS will be held virtually from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on September 15, October 20, November 3, and December 8. New special education directors serving Arizona public education agencies in their first or second year of being a special education director (including any previous positions) are eligible to attend. Each new director will also receive a one-year membership to the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and CEC’s Council for Administrators of Special Education (CASE) special interest division. The cost of participation in SENDS is $50.

Register for the Special Education New Director Symposium (SENDS).

For questions about SENDS, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox.

The data capture date for the September payment is Tuesday, August 15, at 5:00 p.m. September payment will be based off current-year ADM for school districts and charters.  The calculation of current-year ADM is dependent on a certified AzEDS calendar for all non-AOI/DRP-only schools.

It is imperative calendars are submitted, certified, and pass integrity by 5:00 p.m. on August 15, 2023.

Calendar Resources:

• Instructions for certifying a calendar can be found here.
• To view data capture dates for FY24, please click here.
• To view posted guidance "Defining the Instructional Calendar", please click here.
• To view the Calendar Integrity Reference Guide, please click here.
• To view the slides from the calendar webinar on 7/27/21, please click here.

Reminders regarding calendars:

• Calendars must be submitted, certified, and passing Integrity by 8/14/2023 to avoid Integrity failures which will affect the September payment.
• Calendars can be freely submitted and edited until 8/31/2023. After each edit, calendars need to be re-certified.
• After 8/31/2023, a calendar access request is needed to edit an existing calendar or submit a new calendar. Calendar requests are submitted through the Help Desk ticketing system. When creating a new ticket, use the School Finance “Account Analyst Support Request” template. From there, select the Subcategory “Calendar Access” and the appropriate Item (Add New Calendar/Change All Calendars/Individual Date Changes).

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT  

Preschool Outcomes Reporting

Effective fiscal year 2024, Preschool Outcomes will now be 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.

Preschool Outcomes Reporting Guidance is available on the Data Management website.

Integrity rules have been introduced to ensure that Preschool Outcomes are correctly reported. Integrity error troubleshooting guides have been created to assist Public Education Agencies with troubleshooting if needed. The integrity rules and links are as follows:

• NEW - 40087 - When entering a Preschool Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), the three Outcome Assessments must be reported: Social-Emotional, Knowledge-Skills, and Behaviors. Please refer to the ESS Preschool Outcomes Reporting Guidance document.
• NEW - 40088 - When exiting a Preschool Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), the three Outcome Assessments must be reported: Social-Emotional, Knowledge-Skills, and Behaviors. Please refer to the ESS Preschool Outcomes Reporting Guidance document.
• NEW - 40089 – When Exit Preschool Outcome is reported, the Progress Made must indicate Yes or No.

Please email ESS Data Management with any questions regarding Preschool Outcomes reporting.

For immediate release: August 1, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne statement on AZ Homeland Security ESA data report

PHOENIX: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement in light of today’s release of an Arizona Department of Homeland Security cyber incident report:

Horne stated, “The Arizona Department of Education had no way to know the reason for the resignation of Christine Accurso other than her own statements in her letter of resignation. The department did not request this resignation; it was initiated by the former employee.

Under state administrative code (Sec. 2-5A-105), we are not permitted to release that letter and though we have asked permission from Mrs. Accurso to release it, she has declined. Instead, she has offered her own statement, which is below.”

Accurso stated, “Today (July 24, 2023) I tendered my resignation. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to get the ESA program on track and functioning. We trained and implemented a full staff of competent professionals who love the program and will carry it forward. I achieved much of what I set out to accomplish, but it is time to move on and pursue other opportunities to engage citizens, especially parents, to fight for school choice and other issues they believe in for the future of our state.”

Horne continued, “The DHS report confirms that the Department of Education notified ClassWallet of a data issue. We received a statement on July 14, from ClassWallet, which is below.”

ClassWallet CEO Jamie Rosenberg wrote: “The problem has been resolved. It was a permission setting error. Once discovered, we took immediate action and corrected the permission setting. Additionally, we performed a database search and concluded no other users were affected. Therefore, this is an isolated incident to a single user.”