October 1st Student Enrollment Count Instructions

October 1st Student Enrollment Count Instructions

(Public Schools, 60% Publicly Funded Schools, Public Charter Schools & Private Schools with Publicly Funded Students)

 

Deadlines

October 1st Reporting

  • October 15 of the reporting year: 11:59PM: all enrollments as of October 1 must be entered or uploaded correctly in Synergy State Edition
  • October 16 to October 30, of the reporting year: Certification of these enrollments by the Special Education Director and Superintendent must occur between these two dates. Do not certify before October 16 and do not certify after October 30. Failure to certify could result in subsidy being withheld from the School Administrative Unit.

All corrections to student information must be entered/uploaded into the Synergy State Edition by the school where the student is attending. These changes will be reflected in the EPS Report after the next automatic update of the EPS Report. 

Note: it may take up to three hours before the changes you uploaded to Synergy State Edition are reflected in the NEO Student Count Summary report.

EPS Refresh Schedule:

There is no longer a request refresh button.
  • The October report now refreshes continually throughout the reporting period unless a section of the report has been certified. If either SPED counts or/and Regular Ed counts are certified the report will need to be decertified fully for it to refresh. 

What if I make changes to enrollments after certification?
After the report has been certified, the data uploaded into Synergy State Edition is no longer automatically refreshing the NEO Student Data module. If changes are made in Synergy, the EPS module refresh must be done by de-certifying your report. If you make any changes to a student enrollment which affects enrollment data as of October 1, do the following:

If you haven’t yet certified:

  • Be sure to first upload your latest data to Synergy State Edition
  • Once the NEO Student Count Summary Report reflects your changes, it can be certified.
  • To certify, see section on “Certifying the Student Count Summary Report” below

If have you already certified:

  • Be sure to first upload your latest data to Synergy State Edition
  • Click the “Un-certify Data” button on the EPS Report located in NEO. Note: it may take up to three hours before the changes you uploaded to Synergy State Edition are reflected in the NEO Student Count Summary report.
  • Once the NEO Student Count Summary Report reflects your changes, it can be re-certified.
  • To re-certify, see section on “Certifying the Student Count Summary Report” below

How Data Flows From District to MDOE EPS Reports

The EPS Reports only reflect data from students as of October 1st so if a student start date is Oct 2nd or later, they will not appear on any EPS Reports or if a student was exited prior to October 1st, they will also not appear on the EPS Report.

Certifying the Student Count Summary Report

Log into NEO and select the Student Data module. If you do not see “Student Data”, call the Helpdesk

Once inside the Student Data module, select “Student Reports”

As reports are created related to Student Data, they will be added to the Student Data Reports Dashboard

  • For the report called October EPS Student Count, click on View Report
  • Click on View in the Navigation area to view the report
  • This will bring you to the following area:

Student Count Summary image

 

  • Student Counts Summary – this is a dual report that the Director of Special Education certifies the EF-S-05 and then the Superintendent certifies the October 1 EPS Counts. Both must certify before the report is accepted. If one certifies and the other needs to make changes, the one that certified must certify again after changes have been made.
  • Count Summary Details – this is the student level detail data which comprises the October EPS Count section of the Student EPS Report.
  • Error Report – this lists known errors which must be fixed before students can be counted properly
  • Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1) Student Details – this is the student level details which comprises the Special Education section of the report commonly referred to as the EF-S-05
  • Out of District Placement – this is the student level details for students attending a school outside the district but resides within your district
  • Attending Student Report – this is the student level data details of all students which attend schools in your district no matter if they reside in your district or not.

To certify the Student Count Summary (which combines both the EF-S-05 and the October 1 EPS), click on Review for the Student Count Summary. It is recommended that all the supporting reports listed above have been validated internally before the report is certified.

The section which the Special Education Director must certify is the top portion of the report.

​​​​​​Special Ed EFS05 section image

The section immediately below this are the October EPS Counts which must be certified by the Superintendent.

October EPS Summary Counts image

This report is not complete until both the Special Education Director AND the Superintendent each certify.

Once the DOE receives the certified data, we will either accept it or send it back for corrections to be made.

You will know the process was finished when the following area all have dates and names completed

Certified by dates image

EPS Report Instructions
Personnel with the role of “SAU District Admin”, “Special Education Director”, and “Superintendent” may access this report by logging on to the NEO Log In page and implementing the steps below:

NEO website: https://neo.maine.gov/DOE/NEO/Accounts/Account/Login
Type in Username and Password and click “Log In”

Count Summary Details  - This report contains the student details that make up the aggregate counts in the Student Count Summary report. Included in this report is the following information:

  • Year - current school year
  • Attending District - the district of the school where the student physically attends
  • Attending School - the school where the student physically attends
  • Resident District - the district where the student resides
  • First Name - student's first name
  • Last Name - student's last name
  • State Student ID - student's 9-digit identification number established by the MDOE
  • Sex - the sex of the student
  • Birthdate - the date of birth of the student
  • Age July 1 - the age of the student as of July 1 of the current school year
  • Age Oct 1 - the age of the student as of October 1 of the current school year
  • Age Oct 15 - the age of the student as of October 1 of the current school year
  • Grade
  • Fiscal Responsibility - the fiscal responsibility is the code which determines which district is fiscally responsible for the student
  • Counts Attending – indicates that the student will be counted for attendance for the school administrative unit.
  • Counts Subsidy – indicates that the student will be counted for subsidy purposes for the school administrative unit. Home school students are not counted in the CountsSubsidy column. Rather, they are counted in the Equivalent Instruction column
  • Equiv Instruction – indicates that the student is a “Home School Education” student and the percentage of time that student is attending academic courses – this count is used to determine State subsidy for these students
  • Counts Economic Status – indicates that the student is counted for subsidy AND will be counted for free and reduced lunch – elementary counts will be used to determine the percentage of disadvantaged students in a school administrative unit.
  • Counts SPED – indicates that the student is counted for subsidy AND will be counted as a special education student.
  • Counts EL – indicates that the student is counted for subsidy AND will be counted as an ELL student. Note: requires completed ELL enrollment data. (Date first enrolled in US school, language, identified date)
  • Counts FS/SAC – (FosterStudent/State Agency Client) indicates that the student is counted for subsidy AND will be counted as a Foster Students/State Agency Client.
  • Counts PR –(formerly known as 4YO) indicates that the student will be counted as a four-year-old student (must be four years old by October 15th of the current school year to count for subsidy)
  • Counts PK – (formerly known as EK) indicates that the student will be counted as a student in early kindergarten (must be five years old by October 15th of the current school year to count for subsidy)
  • Counts K12 - count of students kindergarten through grade 12
  • Counts K5 - count of students kindergarten through grade 5
  • Counts 6 to 8 - count of students grade 6 through grade 8
  • Counts K8 - count of students kindergarten through grade 8
  • Counts 9 to 12 - count of students grade 9 through grade 12
  • Counts PK12 - count of students grade PK (5-year olds) through grade 12
  • Notes - These notes may indicate that there is a problem or error in the student’s enrollment data or indicate a reason why the student is not counted.  They may also just be for informational purposes. The possible notes are as follows:
Notes

Definition

100% State or Federally Funded: 

Student is flagged as 100% State or Federally funded and will not count for subsidy.

CTE Schools Cannot Have Main/Primary Enrollments: 

Students must have an attending/sending school.

Paid by Resident SAU or EUT Invalid for Resident Student:

Attending SAU and Resident SAU are equal and Fiscal Responsibility indicates Paid by Other SAU or EUT – (Code O).  This is probably an error in the Fiscal Responsibility OR an error in the Resident SAU and Resident Town for this student.  If a resident student is attending a school in the resident SAU then the fiscal responsibility should be Resident of School Unit.

Resident of School Unit is not valid if Resident SAU and Attending SAU are not =: 

Resident SAU and Attending SAU are not equal, but Fiscal Responsibility indicates that the student is a resident of the school unit – (Code R).  This is probably an error in the Fiscal Responsibility OR an error in the Resident SAU and Resident Town for this student.  If a non-resident student is attending a school in another SAU, then the fiscal responsibility should not be Resident of School Unit.

Resident Town Is Null: 

Student will not count for subsidy or attending counts because there is a null value in the resident town.

Resident Town Is Not In the Resident SAU:

Student will not count for subsidy or attending counts because the student’s enrollment has either an invalid Resident SAU or an Invalid Resident Town.

Special Education Services Only:

Student is flagged as “Home School Education” and is receiving only special education services at the public school or the student is an expelled special education student receiving special education services only.  This is a message to help explain the count on this student.

Student Attending A Private Special Purpose Program:

Student will count for subsidy for resident SAU, but will not count for attending at attending school or SAU that has the primary/main enrollment because the student is attending a private special purpose program.

Student being educated by Maine Indian Education:

Subsidy will go to Maine Indian Education, regardless of resident SAU.

Student does not count for funding. Student graduated [graduation date]:

Student is not counted for subsidy once the student has previously graduated.

Students from EUT are not subsidizable:

Student is flagged to be a resident of the EUT (Education in Unorganized Territories) and is not counted for subsidy

Student has an invalid grade and is not eligible for subsidy:

The only grade levels allowed for students to be counted for subsidy are: PR, PK, KG, 01,02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12.

Student Must Be At Least 4 Years Old:

Student is enrolled and student’s birth date indicates that the student is not 4 years old as of October 15 of the school year. This is a message to help explain why this student is not counted for subsidy- student does not meet the minimum age requirement of 20-A MRSA Section 5201.

Student Must Be At Least 5 To Be In An PK or KG Program:

Student is enrolled in PK or KG and student’s birth date indicates that the student is not 5 years old as of October 15 of the school year. This is a message to help explain why this student is not counted for subsidy- student does not meet the minimum age requirement of 20-A MRSA Section 5201.

Student Older Than 22 As of July 1:

Student is enrolled and student’s birth date indicates that the student is more than 22 years old as of July 1 of the school year. This is a message to help explain why this student is not counted - student does not meet the maximum age requirement of 20-A MRSA Section 5201.

Student must be 4 to be in a PR Program:

Student is not counted for subsidy because student is enrolled in the PR grade level and is not four years old. If student is 5, the student will need to be enrolled in EK (early kindergarten), in order to count for subsidy.

Student is enrolled in a grade outside the grade span for the primary enrollment school:

Student is not counted for subsidy because the grade level assigned to this enrollment is outside of the grade levels approved for this school.

Student does not count for EL - student tested English proficient in [YearStudentTestedProficient]:

Student does not count for EL because the student tested proficient in English

School does not have an approved PR Program:

Student is enrolled in PR but the school is not approved for this grade level.

Student on Superintendent Agreement - student being counted by [AttendingSAU]:

This is for informational purposes only showing that the student is enrolled under a Superintendent's Agreement and subsidy is given to the attending district versus the resident district.

 

Error Report

If you have any questions regarding the Synergy, please contact the MEDMS Help Desk, Tel. (207) 624-6896 or email medms.helpdesk@maine.gov. If you have any general student enrollment questions, email gpa.doe@maine.gov.

  • Tier 1 Errors
    Students listed in this section are not listed at all on the EPS Report because the student’s enrollment is invalid. Enrollments are deemed invalid when one or more of the following are missing from the student’s enrollment: Resident Town, Resident SAU or Fiscal Responsibility.
  • Tier 2 Errors
    Student’s listed in this section may or may not be an actual error. The student listed in Tier 2 section or letting you know the student is not being counted for subsidy and why. It is up to you to determine of the reason given is acceptable or not. If not, you need to modify the enrollment accordingly in order to pass validation.

Special Education Child Count (EF-S-05 Part 1) Student Details

This report has the special education related data which the Special Education Director will need to comply with the completion of the EF-S-05 report. Instructions for this report can be found here.

Out of District Placements Report
This report displays students who are residents of your district but are attending a school outside your district. This also has the same fields as above to show you why you may or may not be receiving subsidy for a particular student. This report shows students attending private special purpose schools, public charter schools, CTE centers/regions, 60% public schools, etc. Any private school must enroll publicly funded students however they are not required to enter students if they are not publicly funded.

Attending Student Report
This report lists all student who have been enrolled in the district (can be filtered by school) throughout the school year. Therefore, students who have left the district will remain on this report but can be filtered out based on end date. This report does not show students who have Invalid Enrollments.

Data Standards

A data standards document will be available in the near future to support users in understanding the meaning required fields. Data Dictionaries for all data can be found on the Helpdesk - Resources - Enrollment Guides page

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding the Synergy, please contact the MEDMS Help Desk, Tel. (207) 624-6896 or email medms.helpdesk@maine.gov.