Greetings, school leaders!

Thank you for continuing to utilize ESSER funds in creative ways to support students’ academic, social, and emotional wellbeing and success. 

As we head towards the final quarter of this school year, our ESSER team reminds you to visit our EMAC portal to complete the second submission of your Safe Return to In-Person Learning plans. Please visit EMAC to check your submission date.

As a reminder, you may only submit one month prior to your LEA’s assigned due date. LEA has been assigned to a specialist for review, feedback and approval will all be in the EMAC system moving forward. Below are resources to help familiarize yourself with EMAC:

• How to add new users in EMAC (for ADEConnect Administrators) 
• EMAC Portal User Guide

Please contact [email protected] with any EMAC questions. Thank you to all our LEAs who submitted their plans via EMAC!

Post-Secondary ESSER Set-Aside Opportunities

The following professional development opportunities are funded and supported by the Arizona Department of Education’s federal recovery dollar investments. These activities are supported by the funds at ADE’s discretion and are separate from dollars allocated directly to LEAs:

The Ask Benji Chatbot is a free FAFSA completion tool whose services are available statewide to teachers, students, and their families. For high school seniors, completing and submitting the FAFSA by April 1st is one of the requirements of the Arizona Promise Program, which provides free in-state tuition to qualifying Arizona high school seniors.

AzCAN’s College Access Professional (CAP) Training will help professionals develop an understanding of their role in developing a college-going mission for all students, particularly students in poverty or facing other barriers in postsecondary planning. All the courses are designed for anyone who provides direct service to students, no matter what their role may be. Cohorts of staff are encouraged to participate in the courses together as creating an action plan is a course component.

Courses are self-paced, with a one-hour commitment a day! You can view the full course list here. Initial courses include:

• Building a College Going Future for All Students
• Financial Aid & College Applications
• College & Career Advising in the Middle Grades
• College & Career Advising for Non-School Counselors

LEA ESSER III Grant Approvals

Thank you to all our LEAs who submitted applications to receive their allocations of ESSER III funding. We’re so grateful that this additional funding is being used to support students, teachers, and communities.

Our ESSER team is reviewing these applications and working diligently to complete the reviews in a timely manner. We appreciate your patience as our small but mighty team reviews the applications.

After your ESSER III application is approved, we request that LEAs do a monthly drawdown of funds. Learn more on our ESSER III page.

ESSER Data Collection to resume

The US Department of Education is ready for LEAs to resume ESSER (I, II, and III) data reporting as required by the federal covid relief packages. These new requirements are comprehensive and include fiscal, programmatic, and personnel data that will need to be submitted from LEAs regarding their ESSER (I, II, and III)-funded activities that occurred between July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021.

Join us for our weekly education leaders call on March 9th for a high-level overview for leaders on the new ESSER data reporting requirements. Do you need to be added to our weekly education leaders call? Sign up here. 

Additionally, ADE is partnering with ASBA, ASA, AASBO, and ACSA to host a deep-dive next steps webinar for LEAs on these reporting requirements on March 14th from 2-3:30 PM. You can sign up for the joint webinar here.

ESSER Data Reporting: Next Steps for LEAs Webinar Registration

March's data capture for the April payment is scheduled for 3/8/22 at 5pm. Please ensure you’ve reconciled your data prior to data capture as payments will be based on data in AzEDS.

Please review and reconcile your SIS data against the following reports in AzEDS:

• INTEG15 – free and clear of membership ADM Integrity errors
• STUD10 – validate that all of your students have landed in AzEDS
• ADM15 – ensure all students expected to generate funding are indicated as fundable
• ADM20, SPED20, and EL20 – ensure that your ADM is what you expect for each ADM type

The following videos provide general information related to the data reconciliation process:

• Introduction to Data Verification Reports: https://youtu.be/ou9Jst9qnsg
• Introduction to Data Verification Reports 2: https://youtu.be/_m3uEo3OGRI
• Introduction to Integrity: https://youtu.be/PYzBAEZmiSs

Your prior payment reports can be found here: https://schoolfinancereports.azed.gov/.

Please submit a School Finance HelpDesk ticket if you need assistance with your data.

Additionally, please note that the timing of payment data capture dates will be modified beginning in FY23 per House Bill 2898 as shared in a recent Hot Topic. 

Special Education Directors,

Please see the announcement below for an exciting professional learning opportunity.

Announcing the Arizona Professional Learning Series

An Opportunity for Public Education Agencies

The ADE/ESS Arizona Professional Learning Series (AZPLS) provides district and school teams with a systemic method for achieving systems change in aligning state, district, and school site efforts to impact literacy achievement for all students and to close the literacy achievement gap for students with specific learning disabilities. 

The AZPLS provides districts and schools with:

• Six inclusive professional learning modules for K-8 general education teachers, special education teachers, school site leadership, and coaches.
• Six accompanying, interactive professional learning modules for parents and students.
• Leadership coaching from a national presenter to build site capacity in facilitating module professional learning, coach with a focus, collect and analyze data through an inquiry cycle, and sustain implementation.
• Collaborative team structure inspiring shared leadership and decision making from all stakeholders.
• A coaching framework designed for job-embedded professional learning focused on collaborative teams and teacher instructional planning/delivery.
• Web-based data tools and reporting to support targeted needs throughout implementation.

Required AZPLS team members include the district special education director, curriculum director, a school site administrator, two or three general education teachers from different grade levels/content areas, one special education teacher who works closely with general education teachers, and one school site coach.

To indicate your interest in learning more about the series, please sign up at this link by March 15, 2022.

If you have any questions, please email Stacy Riccio.

BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.  FY 2022 March BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2021 BUDG-75 report and FY 2022 March BSA 55-1 information.  Please note, the reduction for any over-expenditure amount in M&O and/or Unrestricted as reported on the FY 2021 BUDG-75 will be included on the FY 2022 March BUDG-25 Reports.

• 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 2022 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 2021 and then click “Go!”. The BUDG-75 report will appear.

Please note, BUDG-75 reports have been updated and Budget Balance Carry Forward amounts have been recalculated based on FY21 AFR.

• 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 November “PDF” button. The March 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!

ADE/ESS is pleased to request proposals for Arizona’s 2022 IDEA Conference, Rise Up: Reimagining and Transforming Educational Practices.

This year’s conference will be held in person at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix and will feature over 75 professional learning opportunities, including IDEA legal issues, instructional practices, national trends and hot topics, special education compliance, preschool and secondary transition, and social/emotional learning.

Please see the Call for Proposals page for information on how to submit. Session proposals are due March 31, 2022.

ESS appreciates this opportunity to learn with each of you. Please consider submitting presentations that represent your creative and research-based work. Questions can be sent to the IDEA Conference inbox.

Please note: 

The 2022 Integrity process experienced a problem and has been restarted.

The process is running now and is expected to finish by 1pm MST.

Special Education Stakeholders,

ADE/ESS is pleased to request proposals for Arizona’s 2022 IDEA Conference, Rise Up: Reimagining and Transforming Educational Practices.

This year’s conference will be held in person at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix and will feature over 75 professional learning opportunities, including IDEA legal issues, instructional practices, national trends and hot topics, special education compliance, preschool and secondary transition, and social/emotional learning.

Please see the attached Call for Papers for information on how to submit. Session proposals are due March 31, 2022.

ESS appreciates this opportunity to learn with each of you. Please consider submitting presentations that represent your creative and research-based work. Questions can be sent to the IDEA Conference inbox.

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 15-941, teacher experience data must be transmitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction by October 15th and can be modified between February 1st and March 1st. Preliminary TEI amounts were e-mailed to districts on January 31, 2022 and are available at the bottom of the SDER96 report at schoolfinancereports.azed.gov. 

If you have teachers listed at the district level CTDS number on your previously submitted file, your district will not generate TEI. Please check Column B of your submitted file to ensure it contains a School CTDS number for each of your teachers, not the District CTDS that ends with 000. You must correct the data to the School CTDS number and re-submit if the previously submitted file contains your District CTDS number.

If a district’s data is not submitted and error free, it will not be included in the TEI calculation. 

Final TEI reports will be available on or before March 15, 2022. To view additional details regarding the submission of SDER data, please review the previously posted Hot Topic at: /finance/sder-application-open-modifications. 

• View the posted memo here: https://schoolfinancereports.azed.gov/Memos

• View the posted manual with instructions here: /sites/default/files/2021/10/SDER%20Manual%20Revised%2010.7.21.pdf
• View the recorded training here: https://youtu.be/RkyRCAeO2VY

Please submit a HelpDesk ticket if you need assistance with submitting your SDER data. 

Special Education Directors,

The ADE/ESS Assistive Technology (AT) team is excited to offer a free virtual professional learning opportunity by nationally known presenter Tony Vincent.  Registration information is available below:

Digital Learning Construction: Tools with Tony Vincent

March 22, 23, and 24, 2022 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Pixels to Paper (Tuesday, March 22, 2022, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.)

In this session, you will be able to see the variety of printable creations you can make in Google Slides or PowerPoint. These creations are not ordinary printouts! Learn to make your own tear-off sheets, table toppers, multipage posters, door hangers, brochures, dice, scratch cards, and foldable mini-books. These printable items can serve as visual scaffolds, handy reminders, or learning artifacts for students.

Register to attend March 22

Live Transcription will be available for all webinars. If you require additional accommodations to participate in this webinar, please register no later than 71 hours in advance of this meeting.

Google Forms Awesomeness (Wednesday, March 23, 2022 from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.)

Google Forms is awesome, but you already knew that. It’s great how responses feed directly into a spreadsheet for easy access and analysis. You can create assessments, surveys, checkout forms, and quizzes for students. You can also poll colleagues, collect information from parents, and keep logs. If you dig into the settings, you can do even more!

Register to attend March 23

Live Transcription will be available for all webinars. If you require additional accommodations to participate in this webinar, please register no later than 71 hours in advance of this meeting.

Electrify Any Lesson 2.0 (Thursday, March 24, 2022 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.)

Tony's most popular presentation is updated with all new ways to make learning irresistible. Experience Tony's new favorite low-prep lesson hooks, conversation starters, and tools to make any lesson extra special.

Register to attend March 24

Live Transcription will be available for all webinars. If you require additional accommodations to participate in this webinar, please register no later than 71 hours in advance of this meeting.

About Tony Vincent

Tony Vincent has been a pioneer in digital learning. Tony left regular teaching in 2006 to work with teachers worldwide. After years of self-employment as an education and technology presenter, Tony went back to the classroom to teach fifth grade in Council Bluffs, Iowa for the 2018-2019 school year. While he’s proud to have led workshops and presentations in almost all 50 states, empowering his students to be creative thinkers is his favorite professional accomplishment. Tony is a prolific sharer, approachable, and he consistently selects practical tools and strategies that can be implemented right away. To see what Tony shares online, click on over to the Learning in Hand website, where you can explore his website and find his social media links. And, if you spend a little time with Tony, you’re likely to hear about his charming nine-year-old twins.

Questions regarding this professional learning opportunity can be sent to [email protected].

Special Education Directors, please see the following information:

Research Opportunity: Elementary Self- and Career-Awareness Study

Future Quest Island-Explorations (FQI-E) is a free online game-based curriculum that promotes college and career awareness, SEL, and self-concept for 3rd to 5th graders. FQI-E is universally designed and accessible to students with disabilities; it uses the evidence-based possible selves framework to help all students understand themselves, set goals, and plan expansive futures.

Program developers are currently enrolling schools in a study to test the effectiveness of FQI-E and get recommendations for program improvements. Participating educators receive early access to the game, coaching on using it in the classroom, and a gift card.

Study participation involves helping distribute and collect parent consent forms (electronic and/or paper), administering 20 minute electronic student pre- and post-surveys, implementing the curriculum (6-10 hours, self-paced), and potentially participating in a focus group. 

Interested? Fill out this form to learn more. The study and the Future Quest Island - Explorations program are funded through a grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).