DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT 

SPED Integrity Rule -40055

Integrity Rule -40055 will update on May 1 to validate SPED and Enrollment Exit Dates, and reasons are reported (not null) until the end of FY 2023.

SPED integrity rule -40055: If a student’s SPED Exit Reason does not match the student’s regular membership Year End or Withdrawal Membership status, then report the discrepancy as an error. This rule is triggered for all SPED data effective May 1 of the fiscal year to capture invalid exit combinations and unreported relevant data elements (see the SPED Exit Validation Matrix).

• If a student has all the following four values, this rule will trigger anytime during the reporting year:
  • Enrollment Withdrawal/Year-End exit value (Code/Reason)
  • Enrollment Withdrawal/Year-End exit date
  • SPED Exit Code (Reason)
  • SPED Exit Date
• If any of these elements are missing, this rule will be triggered on May 1 and forward.

Between July 1 and April 30, this rule would apply only in cases where all 4 of the values are present. Effective May 1, this rule would apply to all students even if one or more values are reported as “null” (not reported).

The intent of this rule is not only to ensure that the data is complete by the end of the fiscal reporting year with all four values but also to ensure that the exit dates/reasons align between SPED and ADM as appropriate.

If PEAs were not receiving this error previously and now receive this error after May 1, most likely, one of the four values has not been reported. To resolve integrity error -40055, replace the null values with the correct exit date(s) and/or exit reason(s) according to the SPED Exit Validation Matrix and resubmit to AzEDS. Please note that AzEDS will accept future dates.

Additionally, the SPED Integrity Error Tool for -40055 can be referenced to assist with troubleshooting.  

If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected].

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT       

Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Discipline Data Collection (DDC) Application - New Action Taken Options

Effective May 3, 2023, new actions will be available in the Action Taken dropdown box and XML Schema. The following actions have been added:

• Reassignment to Alternate Education Program In-School
• Reassignment to Alternate Education Program Out-of-School
• Reassignment to Alternate Suspension Program Out-of-School
• Reassignment to Alternative Suspension Program In-School

Per Arizona State law, these actions must be taken in specific circumstances. If any student has been placed in an alternative education program per A.R.S. § 15-841(H) (I). These actions apply to school districts and charter school districts only. Please update the action taken for any student in this category.

As a reminder, all SPED discipline data must be completed by July 15, 2023.

Per A.R.S. § 15-841:

H. A school district or charter school shall expel from school for at least one year a pupil who is determined to have threatened an educational institution, except that the school district or charter school may modify this expulsion requirement for a pupil on a case-by-case basis if the pupil participates in mediation, community service, restitution or other programs in which the pupil takes responsibility for the results of the threat. This subsection shall be construed consistently with the requirements of the individuals with disabilities education act (20 United States Code sections 1400 through 1420). A school district may reassign a pupil who is subject to expulsion pursuant to this subsection to an alternative education program pursuant to subsection E of this section if the pupil participates in mediation, community service, restitution or other programs in which the pupil takes responsibility for the threat.  A school district or charter school may require the pupil's parent or guardian to participate in mediation, community service, restitution or other programs in which the parent or guardian takes responsibility with the pupil for the threat. For the purposes of this subsection, "threatened an educational institution" means to interfere with or disrupt an educational institution as defined in section 13-2911 by doing any of the following:

1. For the purpose of causing, or in reckless disregard of causing, interference with or disruption of an educational institution, threatening to cause physical injury to any employee of an educational institution or any person attending an educational institution.

2. For the purpose of causing, or in reckless disregard of causing, interference with or disruption of an educational institution, threatening to cause damage to any educational institution, the property of any educational institution, the property of any employee of an educational institution or the property of any person attending an educational institution.

3. Going on or remaining on the property of any educational institution for the purpose of interfering with or disrupting the lawful use of the property or in any manner as to deny or interfere with the lawful use of the property by others.

4. Refusing to obey a lawful order to leave the property of an educational institution.

I. Each school district shall establish an alternative to suspension program in consultation with local law enforcement officials or school resource officers. The school district governing board shall adopt policies to determine the requirements for participation in the alternative to suspension program. Pupils who would otherwise be subject to suspension pursuant to this article and who meet the school district's requirements for participation in the alternative to suspension program shall be transferred to a location on school premises that is isolated from other pupils or transferred to a location that is not on school premises. The alternative to suspension program shall be discipline intensive and require academic work, and may require community service, groundskeeping and litter control, parent supervision, and evaluation or other appropriate activities. The community service, groundskeeping and litter control, and other appropriate activities may be performed on school grounds or at any other designated area.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at [email protected].

Horne says school districts need to ditch “equitable grading”
Practice manipulates grading scale, downplays homework

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne is urging public schools that use “equitable grading” for students to abolish the practice.

A recent Wall Street Journal report noted that the practice is being embraced by districts nationwide. It can often be called something similar such as “standards-based grading”, or “compassionate grading.” 

In Arizona, several school districts use some form of equitable grading in which the baseline for a grade is not zero but begins at 50 percent. By that standard, what was a 20 percent grade on a 100-point scale would now be a 70 percent passing grade.

In addition, homework is downplayed, and students are often given multiple attempts to take tests and complete assignments. The system essentially rewards procrastination and lazy habits while penalizing industrious students. 

Superintendent Horne said, “In education today, we have a war between excellence and mediocrity. So-called ‘equitable’, ‘compassionate’, or ‘standards-based’ grading promotes mediocrity. Test scores show that the students are not learning enough to properly compete in an internationally competitive economy. If we are to increase learning and show it in increased test scores, students must do homework and be graded objectively. The parents of the state are demanding this result.”

A number of Arizona districts use the principles of equitable grading. They include, but aren’t limited to, Agua Fria Union HSD, Amphitheater USD, Deer Valley USD, Flagstaff USD, Laveen ESD, Liberty Arts Academy, Phoenix Union HSD, Roosevelt ESD, Santa Cruz Valley USD, and Sunnyside USD among others.

Recently, ADE/ESS has received many inquiries regarding special education Early Childhood Transition for children referred from IDEA Part C, Arizona’s Early Intervention Program (AzEIP). The attached Hot Topic is intended to provide guidance to address these responsibilities.

For additional compliance-related questions, please contact the PEA’s assigned Program Support and Monitoring (PSM) specialist. If there are questions related to implementing effective preschool special education programs, please contact the PEA’s assigned Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) specialist.

The window for districts to submit transportation Vehicle Inventory data will close on Saturday, 7/15/2023. The Transportation and Vehicle Inventory application is now accessed through ADEConnect.

The following resources have been created to assist in submitting transportation data: 

• Transportation Data Submission Video
• Transportation Manual 
• Transportation FAQ

***When entering in the 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 again and removing the meter end date***

 The FY24 calculation of TSL is dependent on Vehicle Inventory data being submitted during the current window which closes on 7/15/23. 

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

Please note that charters are not required to submit this data.

The CTEDADM15 is now available for the districts who are submitting the data for their CTED Satellite Campuses.

The CTEDADM15 report identifies students participating in a Satellite, Central Campus, Leased Central Campus, or Community College CTED site.  It also displays the Total Planned Hours of Instruction and Total Community College Credits Enrolled that are used to calculate Average Daily Membership (ADM) for each student.

For more information on the CTEDADM15, please reference the previous CTEDADM15 Hot Topic

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT        

Special Education Data Updates Webinar Wednesday, May 17th  

The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, May 17th, from 2pm – 3pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):    

• Reminders  
• Trending topics  
• Top 3 Integrity Errors  
• Q&A 

For questions, please contact ESS Data Management via email at [email protected].  

BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.  FY 2023 April BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2023 April BSA 55-1 information. 

• District BUDG-25 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:
  • First, select a school district and then click “Go!”
  • Next, click “Switch to Budgets” from the top right corner of the menu bar and then click “Reports” from the middle of the menu bar.
  • Finally, select fiscal year 2023 and then click “Go!”. The BUDG-25 report will appear.

• District BUDG-75 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:
  • First, select a school district and then click “Go!”
  • Next, click “Switch to Budgets” from the top right corner of the menu bar and then click “Reports” from the middle of the menu bar.
  • Finally, select fiscal year 2022 and then click “Go!”. The BUDG-75 report will appear.

• District BSA 55-1 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 April “PDF” button. The April BSA 55-1 report will appear.

BUDG-25 reports will be available until the Budget Team performs the next update (typically after each State Aid distribution). Once the updating process has begun, all BUDG-25 reports will become unavailable at that time.  Please save a copy for future reference.

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

Thank you!

FY 2024 Monthly Payment and AzEDS Processing Schedule Every month, ADE uses student data submitted by districts and charters to calculate Average Daily Membership (ADM). ADM is used as the basis for state aid funding. Districts and charters submit student data to AzEDS, and ADM is calculated in the ADM Calculation Engine (ACE). The student data must reside within AzEDS on time to be included in the scheduled Integrity and ACE processing for each month’s payment.  

* Districts may be paid based on prior-year student counts or current-year student counts in AzEDS, while Charters may be paid based off Charter Estimated Counts or current-year students counts in AzEDS for the first two payments of the year.

AzEDS Processing Schedule 

Current year AzEDS Integrity will run nightly, regardless of the monthly payment processing schedule. Integrity is scheduled every weeknight and will include data submitted to AzEDS up until 5 p.m. ACE is scheduled to run immediately after Integrity each night. 

Use of Prior-Year Data and Charter Estimated Counts 

In FY 2024, the first two payments of the year may be calculated based on prior-year data for districts or charter estimated counts for charters in the absence of AzEDS data. Beginning with the third payment, AzEDS data is required and districts and charters that have not submitted AzEDS data will not generate a payment. Payments based on ACE results first require that a certified calendar that passes AzEDS Integrity has been submitted. To allow time for certification of calendars, the API for FY 2024 will be available starting June 1, 2023. 

FY 2024 Statewide Recalculation 

The final submission deadline for FY 2024 data is July 15, 2024 at 5 p.m. Any adjustments from FY 2024 Statewide Recalculation will be applied to payments in FY 2025. 

For immediate release: April 25, 2023
Contact: [email protected]

Horne notes NEA supports teacher pay raises, but AEA and Democrat legislators oppose legislation to give teachers more

Measure is GOP-sponsored

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne, responding to inquiries made to him about a recent National Education Association (NEA) study on teacher pay, says the national organization and Arizona Education Association (AEA) are surprisingly at odds with each other on this issue.

The NEA released a data this week indicating teachers’ pay has decreased in real terms due to inflation in recent years and advocating for raises.

“The national teacher’s union has issued a statement about the importance of raising teacher salaries, and I agree,” Horne said. “Matt Gress, a Republican legislator, has introduced a bill to raise teacher salaries by $10,000. This would put Arizona in the top 10 of states for starting salaries.”

He added, “Shockingly, the Arizona teacher’s union and a number of Democrats in the legislature, oppose the bill. All we can think of is that they are opposed to it because it is a Republican bill. These kinds of questions should be bipartisan, and people should not oppose a good bill, just because it was introduced by Republican.”

“Since the national teacher’s union advocates for raises and the Arizona teacher’s union has opposed a bill to do just that, we are willing to facilitate introducing the state president of the teacher’s union to the national president,” Horne concluded.

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