Special Education Directors' Corner

What's New

American Rescue Plan IDEA Fund Webpage

Information related to the American Rescue Plan IDEA Fund is now available at http://www.cde.state.co.us/caresact/arp-idea.

K - 12 Resources for Afghan Evacuees (PDF)

Some new Afghan students, as well as other recently arrived children, may be children with a disability who are entitled to services under Federal disability laws.

FFY 2020 SPP/APR Stakeholder Involvement

Every 6 years, the CDE must reset baselines and targets for Performance Indicators in the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report as required by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Between June 2021 and February 2022 (submission date), the CDE will be engaging in several layers of internal and external stakeholder meetings to ensure we meet the reporting requirements as set forth by OSEP. SDLT and Special Education Directors at large will be involved in this process in October – December 2021. You can read more information in the FFY 2020 SPP/APR Stakeholder Involvement document posted on the Directors’ Corner webpage.

Changes to the reporting of the graduation status of students with disabilities

Given the implementation of H.B.19-1066, students with disabilities who complete the graduation requirements and continue the services must be reported as “graduates” the year in which the students complete the graduation requirements. The reporting changes have been made to the Student End of Year (EOY) data collection to reflect this new requirement. Please see this guidance document for how these students should be reported starting in the SY2020-21 Student EOY.

ECEA Funding and December IEP Completion Deadline

For the 2020-21 academic year, CDE announced that it would continue to provide ECEA funding for students who were receiving special education services, but did not have a current IEP on file with their district by the December 1 Count deadline (students who were reported with Funding Status Code 51 in the December count). This policy has been extended to SY2021-22 and will apply to the December count 2021. Please review the policy memo from SY2020-21 below. Also, please keep in mind that districts will be required to complete the annual IEP review for these students as soon as practicable, but no later than March 1, 2022.

CDE Policy Related to ECEA Funding and December IEP Completion Deadline for the 2020-21 Academic Year (Updated November 15, 2021)

2021-2022 Standard Record Review - All Age Groups

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) recognizes that educators, students, and families continue to face unprecedented circumstances and challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, however, the U.S. Department of Education has not granted waivers related to the monitoring of the compliance of IEPs, and we must therefore proceed with the annual IEP review process for SY2021-22. Historically, AUs reviewed IEPs that amount to 3% of the December count IEP enrollment with a minimum cap of 10 and the maximum cap of 50. In SY2020-21, the maximum cap was reduced to 30 to reduce the burden on AUs during this time. CDE will use this reduced sampling amount once again for the upcoming school year’s reviews.  AUs must complete IEP file reviews for all age groups by June 1, 2022. Details of the number of reviews required in each age category and directions for completing the reviews can be found in a document labeled, “IEP Record Review Directions SY2021-22” located in the Attachments List of the Compliance tab in the Data Management System (DMS). 

• 2021-2022 Standard Record Review Webpage

Changes in reporting educational environments for 5-year-old kindergartners

• 5-year-old kindergartners must be reported with school-age educational environment categories starting in December Count 2020 (School Year 2020-21). Please see the memo below for details.
  • Memo – 5-year-old Educational Environment (PDF)