Special Education Directors,The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology (AT) team is excited to announce our next 2022–23 national presenter: Therese Willkomm, PhD. Dr. Willkomm’s workshop is designed for special educators and related service providers.Making AT for Educational Success: A “Hands On” Make and Take Workshop

Special Education Directors and Preschool Coordinators, The ADE/ESS Early Childhood Special Education unit will host the 2023 Summit for Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education in partnership with Arizona’s Early Intervention Program on March 2–3, 2023. The Summit is a virtual event and will offer presentations for teachers, direct and related services providers, administrators, and families of children with disabilities on best practices for working with young children with disabilities.

BUDG-25 Budget Verification Letters for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.

The FY2023 Early Literacy Payment has been distributed November 4, 2022.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT Weekend closure of Exceptional Student Services Portal and ApplicationsPlease be aware that all ESS Applications will be unavailable on Saturday, November 5, 2022. The applications will be back up and running no later than Monday, November 7, 2022. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.The Exceptional Student Services IT team will be updating the Exceptional Student Services Portal and ESS Applications over the weekend. During this update, all ESS Applications, Online Forms, and ESS Portal will be unavailable in ADEConnect and links will be deactivated on ESS websites.

BUDG-75 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.

Special Education Directors,Are you looking for Speech-Language Pathologists or Speech-Language Pathology Assistants?From November 17–19, 2022, ADE/ESS will staff a recruitment booth on behalf of all public education agencies in Arizona at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (AHSA) annual national convention. Over 20,000 SLPs and graduate students attend ASHA’s convention each year.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT FY 2023 October 1 Data Collection Phase I Verification due 11/16 by 5pmThis is a reminder that the October 1 Data Collection (ODC) Phase I verification count is due Wednesday, November 16, 2022, by 5pm. This phase includes the submission of your Public Education Agency (PEA) Special Education (SPED) student count and personnel Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) data. All PEAs are required to verify the aggregate count of students receiving SPED services over October 1, including zero counts. This is an internal count using your student information systems and student rosters; AzEDS reports should not be used to gather Phase I Verification Count.

Special Education Directors,ESS collects data each year through the Teacher Attrition Survey to make informed decisions about recruitment and retention efforts in Arizona. Participation in the survey is mandatory for all public education agencies in Arizona.The survey is open now and will close on January 31, 2023. Please see this memo for further details. Answers to frequently asked questions regarding the survey can be located online. If you have additional questions, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox.

BUDG-AGD reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.