Special Education Child Count Instructions

(EF-S-05 Part 1)

Printer Friendly Version

Reporting Schedule/Due Dates:

October Reporting

• October 1st through October 15th: all enrollments as of October 1st must be entered or uploaded correctly in Synergy State Edition. Changes to the data will automatically refresh every hour through October 15th. After that point in time, any changes will require a manual refresh (see instructions below). 
• October 16th through October 31st: Certification of the enrollments by the Special Education Director (for the EF-S-05 Report) and Superintendent (for the EPS Report) must occur between these two dates. Do not certify before October 16th and do not certify after October 31st. Failure to certify could result in subsidy being withheld from the School Administrative Unit.

All corrections to student information must be entered or uploaded into the Synergy State Edition by the school where the student is attending. These changes will be reflected in the EF-S-05 and EPS Report the next automatic refresh of the report. Changes made to student enrollments after October 15th will require a manual refresh of the report (see below).

Instructions for uploading student information to Synergy State Edition can be found at the following link:

https://www.maine.gov/doe/data-reporting/collection/helpdesk/resources/synergy_instructions

EF-S-05 and EPS Refresh Schedule

• Updates will run automatically every hour beginning October 1st and ending on October 15th at the end of the day. Reports can be certified beginning on October 16th.

What if I make changes to enrollments after October 15th?
If you make any changes to a student enrollment after October 15th and the changes affect the enrollment data as of October 1st, do the following:

If you haven’t yet certified:  

• Be sure to first upload your latest data to Synergy State Edition
• In NEO, on the Special Education Child Count Report, click the “Refresh” button on the report page. Note: it may take up to two hours before the changes you uploaded to Synergy State Edition are reflected in the report in NEO.
• Once the report in NEO reflects your changes, it can be certified.
• To certify, see section on “Certifying the Special Education Child Count Report (EF-S-05 Part 1)” below

If have you already certified: 

• Be sure to first upload your latest data to Synergy State Edition
• The Special Education Director or the Superintendent may click the Un-certify/Refresh Data button on the report page in NEO. Note: it may take up to two hours before the changes you uploaded to Synergy State Edition are reflected on the report in NEO.
• Once the report in NEO reflects your changes, it can be re-certified.
• To re-certify, see section on Certifying the Special Education Child Count Report” below

Certifying the Special Education Child Count Report (EF-S-05 Part 1)
The Special Education Child Count Report is available within NEO. The report is available to be viewed beginning October 1st. This report will be updated on an automatic refresh schedule through October 15th. If the data or changes are not included on your report at a given time, the automatic refresh may not have occurred by that time.

Personnel with the role of “Data Specialist”, “Special Education Director”, and “Superintendent” may access the report, but only the Special Education Director and the Superintendent can certify. Follow the steps below to access and certify the reports: 

• Go to the NEO Dashboard at https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/NEO/Dashboard
• Under the DC&R heading, select DC&R Reporting Calendar
• In the Organization field/dropdown menu, select your SAU, then click on the SEARCH button
• In the list of reports, scroll down to find the Special Education Child Count Summary Report (EF-S-05 Part 1) listed under Current Reports.
• To read the report instructions, click on the Details link (listed in the Navigation column) next to the report name, then click on the Instructions link.
• To view and certify the report, click on the Report/Form link. You will be brought to the NEO log in page – enter your NEO user name and password. If you do not have login information or have trouble logging in, contact the MEDMS Help Desk at 624-6896 or email the helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov.
• Once logged in, you will see the Organizations/SAUs you have access to listed in a table. Click the View link next to the Organization you would like to view and certify.
• In the next screen, below the SAU heading information, you will see a list of several reports 

• To see the listing of all students counting for your SAU for the Special Education Child Count, click the View link next to report called "Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1) Student Details" (see yellow highlights in screenshot above). The student details report is used to verify students included in your Child Count. The last column of the details report will tell you if the student counts for your school administrative unit – a 1 means the student counts, a 0 means the student does not count at this time. If the count is 0 for a particular student, there will be a note telling you why the student does not count. The Special Education Director should verify this report and ensure that all required updates to student records are made by the end of the day on October 15th. If the total of the student counts is not correct, make the necessary changes in your local student information system and re-upload the student data to Synergy State Edition and ensure the changes are reflected in NEO. When the counts are correct, certify the report. 
• To certify the report, click back to the previous screen (the list of reports) and select the Review link listed in the Navigation column next to "Student Counts Summary" (see yellow highlights in screenshot below).  

This will bring up screen that includes a summary table of the special education child count listed by exceptionality. The table is called "Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1) Summary". Click on the Certify button below the table to certify the report.

• Once the Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1) Summary has been certified by the Special Education Director, the October 1st Student Enrollment Report is ready to be certified by the Superintendent. You may want to communicate with the Superintendent that the report is now ready for his or her certification.

Important Note: The Special Education Child Count, EF-S-05 Part 1, is now treated as a subset of the October 1st Student Enrollment Report – although the Special Education Director verifies and certifies the EF-S-05, the EF-S-05 certification date for the SAU will be the date the Superintendent certifies the overall EPS Report.

Details for updating/verifying the Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1):

1. Each SAU is responsible for verifying and certifying the accuracy of the student count for all RESIDENT students, but the student data is entered into Synergy by the ATTENDING SAU. Students who are tuitioned to schools outside of their resident SAU will count for the resident SAU, but the resident SAU cannot edit the student’s data in Synergy – the data must be entered and edited by the attending SAU. In this case, the resident SAU may need to contact the student’s attending SAU to ensure that the attending SAU accurately updated the student’s information in Synergy.
2. Students publicly tuitioned to private schools should be enrolled and updated in Synergy by the private school. Students who are attending special purpose private schools will retain their primary special ed enrollment with the sending school/district, and the student's special ed information in Synergy should be maintained by the sending school/district. The exceptions are students attending out of state schools; an SAU will need to contact the DOE MEDMS Helpdesk (624-6896) to ensure that these students have been enrolled in a "Non-Maine School". Students who are parentally placed in private schools count for the SAU in which the private school is physically located (regardless of residency). Students attending charter schools should be enrolled and updated in Synergy by the charter school, and these students will count as residents of the charter school on the Special Education Students report. Like public schools, charter schools are responsible for verifying the accuracy of the Special Education Students report and must submit the Special Education Count Certification to Maine DOE.
3. Students who have been expelled but are continuing to receive special education services from the SAU must have a "Special Ed Enrollment" for the student. Please call the MEDMS helpdesk (624-6896) to create one of these enrollments.
4. SAUs providing 4-year-old special ed programs will enter those students into Synergy ONLY if the SAU is providing (and paying for) all of the student’s special ed services. If the enrolled student is receiving special ed services through Child Development Services (CDS), CDS will count the student, and the SAU should enroll the student as a non-special-ed student.
5. Synergy will not allow a student to be reported under more than one disability category. A student who is both deaf and blind must be reported in the category of deaf-blindness. 
6. The October 1 Special Education Student Count is to be an unduplicated October 1 count from your SAU. An example of duplication would be a case in which a 3-5 Year old student is reported on the October 1 Special Education Student Report by the SAU and by CDS. SAUs should report 3, 4 and not-yet-school-aged five-year-old children with disabilities to the CDS coordination site (except as noted in 4 above). CDS in turn reports your preschool students to the Maine Department of Education, Office of Special Services. Only one SAU can count each student. 

Disability and Special Education Setting Data in Synergy:

Please use the disability options provided below. The option entered should reflect the major disability. Students with more than one disability should be reported as multiple disabilities or deaf-blindness, as appropriate.

Code	Description	Definition
AUT	Autism	Autism is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
DB	Deaf-blindness	Deaf-blindness is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
DD	Developmental delay	Developmental delay is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment. (Valid for 3-year-olds to 5-year-old kindergarteners) Note: For a 5-year-old who has transitioned from early childhood special education to a public school and has been determined eligible under developmental delay by CDS and for whom the IEP Team cannot achieve consensus on Part B criteria for the kindergarten year, the SAU may continue the eligible child under the developmental delay criteria for that year consistent with 34 CFR 300.11. During the kindergarten year, the IEP Team will determine, by means of further evaluation, whether the child is eligible as a child with a disability under Part B criteria.
EMN	Emotional disturbance	Emotional disturbance is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
HI	Hearing impairment	Hearing impairment is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment. Hearing impairment includes deafness.
ID	Intellectual Disability	Intellectual Disability is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
MD	Multiple disabilities	Multiple disabilities is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
OI	Orthopedic impairment	Orthopedic impairment is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
OHI	Other health impairment	Other health impairment is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
SLD	Specific learning disability	Specific learning disability is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
SLI	Speech or language impairment	Speech or language impairment is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
TBI	Traumatic brain injury	Traumatic brain injury is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.
VI	Visual impairment	Visual impairment is the major or overriding disability condition that best describes the person's impairment.

Please use the special education setting options provided below. The special ed setting represents the place where the student is educated. If the student is receiving special education in more than one educational placement, utilize the option that reflects the primary placement.

1. Regular class 80 percent or more of the day (Regular Class Placement) - These are students who receive special education and related services outside the regular classroom for less than 21 percent of the school day. This may include children with disabilities placed in:
   • regular class with special education/related services provided within the regular classes;
   • regular class with special education/related services provided outside regular classes;
   • regular class with special education services provided in resource rooms.
   • NOTE: Students with disabilities assigned education technicians and who are in the regular class 80% or more of the day are to be reported as Regular Class Placement.
2. Inside the regular class no more than 79 percent of day and no less than 40 percent of the day (Resource Room Placement) - These are students who receive special education related services outside the regular classroom for at least 21 percent but no more than 60 percent of the school day. Do not include children who are reported as receiving education programs in public or private separate school or residential facilities. This may include children placed in:
   • resource rooms with special education/related services provided within the resource room;
   • resource rooms with part-time instruction in regular class.
3. Inside regular class less than 40 percent of the day (Self Contained Placement) - These are students who receive special education and related services outside the regular classroom for more than 60 percent of the school day. This may include students who are reported as:
   • self-contained special classrooms with part-time instruction in regular class; or
   • self-contained special classrooms with full-time special education instruction on a regular school campus.
4. Separate School Placement - These are students who receive special education and related services for greater than 50 percent of the school day in public or private separate day school facilities.
5. Residential Placement - These are students with disabilities who reside in and receive special education and related services for greater than 50 percent of the school day in public or private residential facilities.
6. Homebound Hospital Placement - These are students with disabilities who receive special education and related services in a medical treatment facility or at home. NOTE: Home-school placements should be reported in other placement categories and not as homebound/hospital placements.
7. Correctional Facilities - These are students who receive special education in correctional facilities. These data are intended to be a count of all children receiving special education in:
   • short-term detention facilities (community based as identified); or
   • correctional facilities.
8. Parentally Placed in Private Schools - These are students who have been enrolled by their parents or guardians in regular parochial or other private schools whose basic education is paid through private resources but who receive special education and related services at public expense from a local educational agency or intermediate education unit under a service plan. Do not include students who are placed in private schools by the Local Education Agency (LEA).

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of personally identifiable data will continue to be maintained by the Maine Department of Education in accordance with the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. No names will be released to the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in completing our data requirements under P.L. 108-446.

Questions:

If you have any questions regarding the EF-S-05 Part 1 Special Education Child Count, contact Brandi Giguere at brandi.a.giguere@maine.gov or 207-446-6526 for assistance. For Synergy or NEO questions or technical issues, contact the MEDMS Help Desk at 207-624-6896 or email the helpdesk at MEDMS.Helpdesk@maine.gov.