ADE/ESS recently notified Transporting School Districts in fiscal year (FY) 2025 that they will be required to complete the Statement of Assurances annually.  Additionally, special education data reporting requirements for FY 2026 will be expanded as required by the Department in the assurances for the application for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) federal funds.

Please read the attached memo for details and contact ESS Data Management with any questions.

The FY22 ARP-IDEA Consolidated-Entitlement Grant is now available in the Grants Management Enterprise (GME) system. The ARP-IDEA Consolidated Grant must be submitted as a new funding application. The code assigned to ARP IDEA Basic and ARP IDEA Preschool should fall within the codes of the federal project for IDEA Funds.

The IDEA Consolidated-Entitlement funding application allocations will be updated soon and require a budget revision to bring the remaining balance to $0.00 for the IDEA Preschool and IDEA Basic grants.

The ESS Program Management team held a webinar on October 12, 2021, to discuss the impact of additional IDEA funds and the opportunity for some public education agencies (PEAs) to reduce the Maintenance of Effort compliance thresholds for fiscal year 2021–2022. Under 34 C.F.R § 300.205, an eligible PEA may take up to 50% of the increase in IDEA Basic funds from FY21 to FY22 and reduce its state and local (M & O) spending on SPED200 programs if the PEA tracks how it plans to use the freed-up funds to carry out activities under the ESEA. The slide deck and Zoom recording of the webinar are available on the ESS Program Management website.

ESS Program Management has published an updated allocations workbook that includes a tab for your public education agency to review the eligibility to take this MOE reduction. PEAs that did not receive Meets Requirements for the FFY19 PEA Determinations or were flagged for Significant Disproportionality in FFY19 are not eligible to take this reduction. PEAs that wish to take a MOE Reduction of any amount under 34 C.F.R § 300.205 must e-mail the ESS Program Management inbox by December 17, 2021.

Please contact ESS Program Management if you have any questions.

Special Education Directors,

Please share this announcement with your Business Managers and Grant Writers.

The ESS Program Management team has announced the FY22 webinar series of topics related to IDEA federal funding. Please visit the ESS Program Management website to register for each Zoom session and read session descriptions. The webinar series will take place on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m.

• October 12 - American Rescue Plan (ARP-IDEA) Funds and MOE Considerations
• November 9 - Proportionate Share and the October Data Collection
• December 14 - High-Cost Child and Extraordinary Special Education Needs Fund Applications
• January 11 - Allowable Costs Under the IDEA
• February 8 - FY23 IDEA Funding Application
• March 1 - Maintenance of Effort Compliance
• April 12 - Topic – TBD
• May 10 - Fiscal Year Wrap-Up

ESS Program Management will also host Office Hours each quarter at 1:00 p.m. PEAs are invited to attend these informal Zoom meetings to bring questions directly to their program specialist.

• November 16 – 2nd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• February 15 – 3rd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• May 17 – 4th Quarter ESS Office Hours

Sign up for the ESS Program Management listserv and take the FY22 Training Survey to give feedback on April’s topic.

Send questions about IDEA and other federal funding opportunities to the ESS Program Management Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

Please share this announcement with your Business Managers and Grant Writers.

The ESS Program Management team has announced the FY22 webinar series of topics related to IDEA federal funding. Please visit the ESS Program Management website to register for each Zoom session and read session descriptions. The webinar series will take place on Tuesdays at 11:00 a.m.

• October 12 - American Rescue Plan (ARP-IDEA) Funds and MOE Considerations
• November 9 - Proportionate Share and the October Data Collection
• December 14 - High-Cost Child and Extraordinary Special Education Needs Fund Applications
• January 11 - Allowable Costs Under the IDEA
• February 8 - FY23 IDEA Funding Application
• March 1 - Maintenance of Effort Compliance
• April 12 - Special Education Funding - How, When, and What Order to Spend?
• May 10 - Fiscal Year Wrap-Up

ESS Program Management will also host Office Hours each quarter at 1:00 p.m. PEAs are invited to attend these informal Zoom meetings to bring questions directly to their program specialist.

• November 16 – 2^nd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• February 15 – 3^rd Quarter ESS Office Hours
• May 17 – 4^th Quarter ESS Office Hours

Sign up for the ESS Program Management listserv and take the FY22 Training Survey to give feedback on April’s topic.

Send questions about IDEA and other federal funding opportunities to the ESS Program Management Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

Join the ESS Program Management team for a 60-minute webinar to highlight items Directors and Business Managers need to know to close out the 2021 fiscal year.

Topics will include:

• IDEA Consolidated-Entitlement Grant reimbursement requests
• Maintenance of Effort Compliance and Eligibility testing
• Preparing your PEA’s FY22 Budget
• American Rescue Plan Act funds
• Compensatory Education Claims
• 30-minute Q&A session

Register for the IDEA Fiscal Year Wrap-Up webinar, May 11 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

For information about the IDEA Consolidate-Entitlement grant other special education funding opportunities, e-mail the ESS Program Management Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

Please review this memo regarding the extension of CARES Act funding for IDEA compensatory services.

E-mail the ESS Program Management team with questions on how to submit a compensatory services claim.

Special Education Directors,

The purpose of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Compliance Testing is to ensure that local education agencies (LEAs) do not supplant state and local funds with IDEA federal funding sources per 34 C.F.R. §300.203(b). Any LEA that received federal entitlement funds for the IDEA must be tested for MOE Compliance.

While COVID-19 is still a factor in the state of Arizona, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has not issued any waivers or exceptions for any states in testing for IDEA MOE. As such, until ESS receives updated information from OSEP that provides an exemption, we are required by federal law to complete testing for IDEA MOE.

The ESS Program Management team will host a 90-minute webinar on March 9, from 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Register for the webinar by March 7. This year’s preliminary compliance test results show that 125 out of 640 LEAs are at risk of failing to meet the compliance standard. During the webinar, the ESS Program Management team will guide LEAs through the MOE application and each of the allowable exceptions and reductions. The team will also explain how the MOE Compliance test results may be used to inform your LEA of how to budget in FY2022 to meet the MOE Eligibility test later this year.

Please review the FY2021 MOE Compliance Testing Window memo and e-mail the ESS Program Management Inbox with any questions.

Special Education Administrators,

Please see the memo to review changes to the upcoming grant cycle for IDEA Basic and IDEA Preschool (IDEA Consolidated).

All public education agencies, regardless of IDEA funding status, must submit the IDEA Statement of Assurances. The Statement of Assurances can be accessed in the ESS Portal and must be completed by the Superintendent, Charter Holder, or Special Education Director of your public education agency. The PEA must assign the role of ESS Special Education : Signer in ADE Connect to the individual that will review, sign, and submit the statement of assurances.

Please e-mail the ESS Program Management Inbox with questions.

Special Education Directors,

Please review the attached memo for information on how to apply for a High-Cost Child Claim.

The next round of applications will close on March 12.

Please e-mail the ESS Program Management Inbox with any questions.

Special Education Directors,

Please review the FY22 Preliminary IDEA Allocation Memo for updates from the ESS Program Management team regarding the IDEA Consolidated-Entitlement funding application.

If you have questions, feel free to send them to the Program Management Inbox.