DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

Ancillary Needs Reporting

Effective fiscal year 2024, Ancillary Needs can be reported to Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS). Students who require ancillary services but do not require special education (SPED) instruction as outlined in A.R.S. § 15-769 (D) and students on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with ancillary needs can be reported.  

Ancillary needs reporting guidance is available on the Data Management website: Ancillary Needs Reporting in AzEDS. 

Integrity rules have been introduced to ensure that Ancillary Needs are correctly reported. Integrity One Sheet Tools have been created to assist Public Education Agencies (PEAs) with troubleshooting if needed. New integrity rules related to Ancillary Needs are as follows: 

• NEW -40090 – Any SPED needs marked as Ancillary must be a Group B need (A, HI, MOID, SID, MD, MDSSI, OI, PSD, EDP, or VI) 
• NEW -40091 – Any SPED need marked as Ancillary can only be reported with an LRE of L, C, D, PD, or PE 
• NEW -40092 – Any SPED need within a Least Restrictive Environment L (Ancillary services provided for Students not on an IEP) must be marked as Ancillary 
• NEW -40093 – Ancillary SPED Needs reported within a Least Restriction Environment L are not to be included by an IEP that indicates that a Federal Primary Need Indicator (FPNI). All needs within LRE L code must not be primary.  

Updated integrity rules related to Ancillary Needs are as follows: 

• -40004 - Concurrent Need and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Code Eligibility matrix updated to disallow LRE L reporting for Preschool or Ungraded Elementary grades.
• -40020 - Concurrent PEA and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Code Eligibility matrix updating to allow LRE L reported by Public Districts or Public Charters only. 
• -40029 - Concurrent Need and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) Code Eligibility matrix updated to allow only Group B Needs to be reported within LRE L. 
• -40050 - Student participating in special education must have one Federal Primary Need Indicator (FPNI) – Update rule to allow an exception for LRE L. No needs within LRE L can be Primary.  
• -40051 - If a student is reported with more than one Federal Primary Need Indicator (FPNI), then report the discrepancy as an error. (Rule does not apply for Ancillary Needs) 

 Please email ESS Data Management with any questions regarding Ancillary Services. 

Contact: [email protected]

Horne releases response to Governor’s letter regarding ESA data

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has sent his response to Governor Katie Hobbs’ letter regarding ESA data. The letter is attached.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, August 16 

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, August 16, from 2:00– 3:00 pm.

This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):   

• Reminders 
• SPED Report Focus
• Trending topics 
• Topics Not in Scope
• Top 3 Integrity Errors 
• Q&A    

 Registration is required to attend: Register for Special Education Data Updates webinar. For questions, please email the ESS Data Management inbox. 

Horne disputes characterization of ESA program in governor’s memo
Issues reaction

PHOENIX - Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has released the following statement in reaction to a governor’s memo regarding the Empowerment Scholarship Program:

Horne stated, “The Arizona Department of Education submitted a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) on May 30th outlining our estimates for the number of students that will participate in the ESA program by the end of the 2024 Fiscal Year. On May 31st, John Ward and I held a news conference where all aspects of these estimates, including the methodology, were thoroughly discussed and scrutinized by members of the news media. This contradicts the contention that ADE was anything less than transparent in this process.

The projections we released are, ironically, almost exactly the same as those in the governor’s memo. There is a difference of only .008 percent between their numbers and ours. Questioning our methodology and our commitment to integrity in this process is unfair and unnecessary.

ADE is managing the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in accordance with the law. Under my Democrat predecessor, the law was not strictly followed, and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes. One of my first acts when I took office was to hire John Ward from the Arizona Auditor General as the internal auditor for the Department of Education. He is now the director of the ESA program, and he is as committed as I am to making sure the law is strictly enforced and every penny is spent on valid educational purposes.”

# # #

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

SEDD Certification Begins Today, July 24th

Final FY23 Special Education Data certification begins today, July 24th, and is due by August 3rd.

Requirements for certification in the Special Education Data Dashboard (SEDD) application include:

• Student Exit Data: Students who qualify for SPED Exit as outlined in the SPED Exit Flow Chart.
  • Review of SPED Exiters was due on July 21st, aligning with the close of FY23 AzEDS.
  • Any sites not reviewed will still require certification; a comment box is available on the certification page for any additional information.
• Preschool Transition Data: required for PEAs that provide special education and related services to preschoolers. Data entry involves information on students who transferred from Part C (Arizona Early Intervention Program) to Part B (PEA preschool program).
• Students without Disabilities: data entry is required for PEAs to identify whether educational services were provided to students without disabilities reported as long-term suspended or expelled in AzEDS.

Please review the SEDD Technical Assistance Manual beginning on page 13 for additional assistance with certification.

If you have any questions, please contact ESS Data Management.

For immediate release: July 24, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne reacts to Attorney General Mayes statements regarding Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement in response to today’s remarks by Attorney General Kris Mayes concerning the universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.

Horne stated, “The Attorney General raised several issues, one of which centers on special education students. Under the ESA program, special education students receive the same funding as they would attending a public school.

In regards to the other concerns raised, under my Democrat predecessor as schools chief, the law was not strictly followed and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes. One of my first acts when I took office was to hire from the Arizona Auditor General an internal auditor for the Department of Education. This person makes sure that every ESA transaction is conducted according to the law and all funding is used appropriately.

There have been significant protests against me from people who were used to the old lax system, but I am insisting that every law is strictly followed and that every penny of these funds is used for valid educational purposes.”

Horne statement on federal judge’s ruling on challenge to Arizona law prohibiting biological boys from participating in girls’ sports

PHOENIX - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, the lone defendant in the lawsuit challenging Arizona’s law prohibiting biological boys from competing on girls’ interscholastic sports teams, issued the following statement in response to today’s preliminary injunction ruling by a federal judge.

Horne stated, “We will appeal this ruling. This will ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court, and they will rule in our favor.

The Plaintiffs in this case claimed that this only involves pre-pubescent boys, but we presented peer-reviewed studies that show pre-pubescent boys have an advantage over girls in sports.

The only expert presented by the Plaintiffs was a medical doctor who makes his money doing sex transition treatments on children and who has exactly zero peer-reviewed studies to support his opinion.”

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 
FY23 SEDD FINAL Exit Data Status Update 

The inconsistency issues with the exit data in the SEDD application have resulted from incorrect timing in our processing steps.  

The exit data in the SEDD application is static as of 7:00 am on July 19, 2023 (yesterday).

The SPED74 available in AzEDS is not static. Thus, at this time, this report can no longer be used for comparison purposes.

Please refer to the SEDD exit data if you have not completed the required review process. The due date is July 21, 2023.

If you find data discrepancies in your SEDD Exit report, please document them. During the SEDD Certification process, a comment box will be available to document the discrepancies.

On Monday, July 24, 2023, the SEDD Certification process will commence. The Certification button will appear after all data entry requirements have been completed (Exit Data Review, Preschool Transition (if applicable), and Students without Disabilities (if applicable)). Once the Certification button is available on the home page of the SEDD application, this final step must be done by Thursday, August 3, 2023.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.

As the new school year approaches, we encourage you to ask yourself if Secondary Transition training would be helpful for you or your staff. Whether it's a quick refresher or an in-depth professional development opportunity, the ADE/ESS team has various training options available to help meet the unique best practice needs of your school or region.

We look forward to working together this year to help to improve Secondary Transition outcomes for students across Arizona. Please email the Secondary Transition team with any questions.

ADE/ESS has received numerous questions about Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) evaluations. The purpose of this Hot Topic is to help to highlight the differences between evaluations specified in federal and state special education regulations and ESA evaluations outlined in state regulations.

For questions related to special education evaluations, please contact the PEA’s assigned Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) specialist. Please contact the ADE/ESA program for questions related to ESA evaluations.

Hot Topic Memo