To be eligible for an increase in expenditure capacity and state aid, all FY2023 A.R.S. § 15-915 requests must be submitted by June 01, 2024, to ensure all data changes/corrections are completed before June 30, 2024.

Requests completed after June 30, 2024, are outside the subsequent fiscal year and are not eligible for increased expenditure capacity and state aid.

Year two (2) and three (3) corrections made within the 2nd and 3rd prior year may decrease expenditure capacity and state aid. Under A.R.S. § 15-915, no increases may result from FY2021 and FY2022 student data corrections.

For additional information and instructions on submitting a request, see the Guidelines for Requesting Prior Year Corrections to State Aid or Budget Capacity (A.R.S. § 15-915).

A.R.S. § 15-185(D) requires the reduction of the base support level and equalization assistance by the amount of federal and state monies received by a charter school that are intended for the basic maintenance and operations of the school.

Monies intended for basic maintenance and operations (M&O) are those intended to support the educational program of the school. They do not include supplemental federal and state grants for specific purposes, such as ESEA Title I, IDEA Part B, and federal food program reimbursements. In addition, by statute, they do not include Federal Impact Aid (Title 8, P.L. 103-382) monies. The Auditor General will make the final determination of what monies are intended for basic maintenance and operations.

To assist the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and the Auditor General in identifying the types of monies applicable to this reduction, charter holders who have monies to report must complete the form on page 2. An electronic copy of the form, including signature, must be sent by email to [email protected] on or before 4:30 p.m. on July 1, 2024. Charter holders with no monies to report should not complete or return the form.

Charter schools receiving Indian School Equalization Program (ISEP) funds must report data used in the calculation of state aid separately for the ISEP students and the non-ISEP students. This allows ADE to accurately apply A.R.S. § 15-185(D) only to the state aid generated by the ISEP-funded students. Students that are non-ISEP will generate monthly state aid for the charter because these students are not funded by the federal Indian School Equalization Program. ISEP students will not generate state aid.

Click here to review the full calendar memo. 

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 15-185(B)(2), the student count of a charter school shall be determined initially by using an "estimated count" based on the actual registration of pupils before the beginning of the school year. 

The Charter Estimated Counts application will open for data submission on 05/31/2024. The deadline to submit Charter Estimated Counts is 07/1/2024. 

• Charters can be paid based on Charter Estimated Counts for the first two payments of the year.
• Payment 3 will be based on FY2025 AzEDS ADM data.
• Charter Estimated Counts cannot be revised after the 7/1/2024 deadline.

Click here to review the full Charter Estimated Counts memo.

Click here to review the new Charter Estimated Counts manual.

If additional assistance is needed, please submit a HelpDesk ticket.

As mandated by A.R.S. § 15-1042(B), all Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are required to submit data electronically to receive funding. As part of this process, LEAs must create an instructional calendar for each school site. The Superintendent or authorized representative must certify that each calendar has met the minimum instructional time requirements defined in A.R.S. § 15-901. LEAs must enter the instructional calendars in student information systems (SIS) for submission to AzEDS. AzEDS will be available for FY 2025 instructional calendars and student data transactions beginning on 6/1/2024.

If the instructional calendar deadline has not been met, the initial release of state aid will be delayed.

Click here to review the full calendar memo. 

Click here to review the Calendar Integrity Reference Guide. 

If additional assistance is needed, please submit a HelpDesk ticket.

Budget forms for the upcoming fiscal year are typically published shortly after the state budget passes to incorporate any changes in state law. Since the FY 2025 state budget has not yet passed, School Finance and the Auditor General's Office are planning to publish preliminary budget forms to allow districts and charters to plan budget preparation processes and governing board meetings.

The Auditor General's Office expects to publish preliminary budget forms for use in budget proposal and adoption by Thursday May 23rd if the State budget has not passed and does not appear likely to pass the following week. It may be necessary to revise budgets in early FY 2025 to incorporate changes in State law. Please note that preliminary budget forms will not account for routine annual changes, such as inflation, and will not anticipate any other changes to State law. Districts in which the qualifying levy is greater than the equalization base (non-state-aid districts) in particular should be aware of the impact of preliminary forms on the budget and discuss property tax rate considerations with counties if preliminary budget forms are used with revisions expected. We will provide a timeframe for final budget form issuance once final changes in State law are known.

If the State budget passes before May 23rd, or appears likely to pass the following week, the Auditor General’s Office will not publish preliminary forms and will instead publish the final budget forms as soon as possible after the budget passes. The final forms will account for all changes in State law, and it may not be necessary to revise the budget in early FY 2025.

School Finance will continue to provide updates via Hot Topic when more information is available.

Thank you!

The window for districts to submit transportation Vehicle Inventory data is open until July 15, 2024.
The FY2025 calculation of TSL is dependent on Vehicle Inventory data. Reports will generate at https://schoolfinancereports.azed.gov/ after data has been entered and saved. Failure to enter and save both Route and Inventory data may cause unexpected funding changes. Charters are not required to submit transportation data.
The following resources have been created to assist in submitting transportation data:

• Transportation Data Submission Video
• Transportation Manual
• Transportation FAQ

Please review the resources prior to submitting your transportation data. If additional assistance is needed, please submit a HelpDesk ticket.

Average Daily Membership (ADM) is calculated using data submitted in the Arizona Education Data Standards (AzEDS) system. Data capture stores a static copy of ADM every month on the data capture deadline. ADM is the basis of state aid funding. Monthly state aid payments are a percentage of the annual equalization assistance less previous payments year-to-date.

Ensure data is reconciled and free of integrity errors before the monthly data capture dates. Reports are published at School Finance Reports. 

The FY 2025 API is available from 06/01/2024 to 07/15/2025.

*Alternative to FY 2025 AzEDS data available for the first two payments only. Districts will be paid based on AzEDS prior-year student counts, which do not apply to Charters. Charter will be paid based on estimated counts submitted via the ADEConnect Charter Estimated Counts application.

School Finance has posted the BUDG-25 reports for all school districts to the School Finance website. The FY 2024 April BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2024 April BSA-55 information.

The FY2023 Over-Expenditures have been included in the Unrestricted Capital (UNR) and Maintenance and Operations (M&O) funds. FY24 FRPL Add-On ADM has also been included in the base support level calculation (BSL).

The following forms are available:

• District BUDG-25 reports are available to download from this School Finance website. For further instructions on how to navigate the website, please view this Hot Topic.

• District FY23 BUDG-75 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:
  • Select the “Start Fiscal Year” as 2023
  • Optionally, select the “Execution Date” as 11/21/2023
  • Click “Apply.”
  • If a 915 was submitted, please download the latest BUDG75 report without using the execution date drop-down.

• District BSA-55 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 report will appear.

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

Thank you!