Public Record Requests

According to the Arizona Ombudsman Citizens’ Aide,

“Arizona law requires all officers and public bodies to maintain records reasonably necessary to provide an accurate accounting of their official activities and of any government-funded activities.

Records are defined as books, papers, maps, photographs, or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an governmental agency in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved by the agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of government. Examples of public records and other matters include calendars, reports, legal memoranda, policies and procedures, accident reports, training videos and materials, tape recordings of meetings where there are no written minutes, personnel records, case files, and databases”.

 

Public records include items like memos, emails, reports, and other documentation that has already been compiled/created. Items that are not public records include things like specialized aggregations of data files, customized lists/exports of data, and other items that have not been previously compiled/completed.

 

Please note:

  • All data provided through a public record request will be reviewed and redacted in accordance with FERPA and ADE standards to protect the confidentiality of student records, educator records, and other private information under state law.
  • Under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records.
  • Do not submit student information or anything that is considered Personally Identifiable information (PII) including but not limited to student name and date of birth.

 

Additional information about FERPA is available here.

 

Commercial Purpose Use:

Records are requested for a commercial purpose where the use of a public record is for:

  1. Sale or resale or for the purpose of producing a document containing all or part of the copy for sale OR
  2. Obtaining the names and addresses for solicitation OR
  3. Direct or indirect use of the public record for monetary gain

 

If you have a Commercial Purpose Request, ADE will ask for additional information and the request will be evaluated on a monthly basis. 

 

Submit your Public Record Request by selecting the appropriate option from the form below.

Any questions regarding the submission of a public record request should be directed to [email protected].  

 

Publicly Available Data:

  • Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Data: You can find information on the ESA webpage. On the menu under the ESA Quarterly Reports dropdown, you can find the quarterly reports submitted to the Arizona State Board of Education. These reports include student counts by eligibility category, grade level, and associated school district/charter, counts by annual award amount, application statistics, and other information.
     
  • School Finance Data: You can find this information on the Reports webpage. Topics include Classroom Site Fund and Instructional Improvement Fund Reports, Superintendent's Annual Finance Reports (SAFR), SAFR digital data set, and School District Employee Reports (SDER).
     
  • High School Equivalency (GED) Transcript: For more information on how to submit a request for a High School Equivalency (GED) transcript, visit our website ​HSE transcript request.  Official HSE Transcript Requests, Access Code Requests, & Verifications must be submitted via the email inbox, [email protected], or through regular mail.
     
  • Information from specific schools, districts, or other institutions: You must contact the school, district, or institution directly to submit your request.  Requests for information from institutions that serve students beyond 12th grade should be directed to the institutions themselves or to the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education (https://ppse.az.gov)
     
  • Enrollment Data: Our Accountability team publishes annual student enrollment counts on our website here: Accountability Research- Data under the “Enrollment” tab. Student enrollment counts are available at the school, district/charter holder, County, and State levels. We include breakdowns by grade and subgroups.

Data Request Form

* required field

Please indicate what you are looking for
School Finance Data

You can find this information on the Reports webpage at https://www.azed.gov/finance/reports. Topics include Classroom Site Fund and Instructional Improvement Fund Reports, Superintendent's Annual Finance Reports (SAFR), SAFR digital data set, and School District Employee Reports (SDER).

High School Equivalency (GED) Transcript

For more information on how to submit a request for a High School Equivalency (GED) transcript visit our website ​​​​

​HSE transcript request

Official HSE Transcript Requests, Access Code Requests, & Verifications must be submitted via the email inbox, [email protected], or through regular mail. 

School Information

You must contact the school, district, or institution directly to make your request. 

Requests for information from institutions that serve students beyond 12th grade should be directed to the institutions themselves or to the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education (https://ppse.az.gov)

Public Records

Records are requested for a commercial purpose where the use of a public record is for:

  1. Sale or resale or for the purpose of producing a document containing all or part of the copy for sale OR
  2. Obtaining the names and addresses for solicitation OR
  3. Direct or indirect use of the public record for monetary gain

In accordance with A.R.S. § 39-121 and A.R.S. § 39-121.01, all documents, correspondence, pamphlets, electronic mail, and electronic documents housed in the Arizona Department of Education, except that information protected by federal or state law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or attorney-client privilege, are considered to be public record, and are to be made available for public inspection upon request.

 

Please note that under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records.

Public Data Sets: https://www.azed.gov/data/public-data-sets
Enrollment Data

Looks like you have a question about student enrollment data. Our Accountability team publishes annual student enrollment counts on our website here: https://www.azed.gov/accountability-research/data under the “Enrollment” tab.

Student enrollment counts are available at the school, district/charter holder, County, and State levels. We include breakdowns by grade and subgroups.

Specialized Data Requests

The Arizona Department of Education works to address specialized data requests as time and resources allow. Statute, policy, and the ADE Research Agenda guide the ADE's decision for honoring requests. As a result, not all specialized data requests will be fulfilled.  Specialized data requests are those requests that are seeking data that is aggregated (school-level, LEA-level, state-level, etc.) and are redacted according to ADE redaction policy.

Please note:

  • All data provided through a specialized data request will be reviewed and redacted to protect the confidentiality of student records, educator records, and other private information under state law.
  • Under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records
  • Data provided through a specialized data request will be aggregated and redacted with an asterisk (*) to indicate student counts less than 11 in acocrdance with FERPA and ADE standards.
  • The ADE does not fulfill specialized data requests for commercial enterprises.
  • The ADE is not able to format files for requesters.

 

When submitting a specialized data request, please be as specific as possible regarding the data elements you are requesting and the intended use of the data to ensure that the ADE is able to process your request in a timely manner.

Restricted Data Request

In order to maintain the strictest privacy protection on personally identifiable and confidential student data, while also support research that is in alignment with statute, policy, and the ADE Research Agenda, the ADE has established a Restricted Data Request Process. Restricted data requests are those requests that are seeking student-level data or aggregated data that has not been redacted. Given the privacy concerns related to the sharing of restricted data, these requests are thoroughly reviewed and vetted prior to the sharing of any data. As a result, not all restricted data requests will be fulfilled.

The process for Restricted Data Requests is outlined below.

  1. Requestor submits request will all required components (including project proposal and researcher resume)
  2. Request materials are shared with the Data Request Review team
  3. Follow-up questions from review of request materials are sent to requestor
  4. Data Request Review team determines if request is approved
  5. If approved, a Data Sharing Agreement is created between ADE and the requestor’s organization
  6. ADE staff sets up a time for requestor to visit ADE on-site to conduct analysis (due to constraints related to COVID-19, alternate access arrangements may be discussed)
  7. Requestor conducts analysis using ADE computers/connection and aggregates final output
  8. Aggregated output is reviewed by ADE staff and if approved is securely sent to requestor
  9. Requestor shares any publications of data with ADE for review prior to publishing
  10. Data is destroyed as outlined in the Data Sharing Agreement

 

Please note, advanced statistical analysis skills are required to access data provided through Restricted Data Requests. Requestors must be able to utilize statistical analysis programs (i.e. SAS, SQL, SPSS), join databases and execute queries. The ADE is not able to provide data formatting or perform analysis for requestors.