Student Special Education Program Begin and End Date

Student Special Education Program Begin & End Date: WISEdata

Begin date for the Student Special Education Program Association (sSEPA) shall be the first day the student begins receiving services under the current IEP/ISP or the first day of school, whichever is most recent. End date may be left blank unless the requirements below are met.

sSEPA Begin Date

The Begin Date is the latest of the following dates that occur within the given school year:

• The first day of the school year (for a continuing IDEA eligible student); or
• The first day of enrollment (for an IDEA-eligible student transferring into the district)
• The implementation date of the IEP/ISP (when a change in the IEP/ISP means a new implementation date of services).
  • This also applies to a student receiving special education services for the first time.
  • The Begin Date should be on or after the third birthday of the student but the IEP Begin Date itself could be before the student turns three. This is due to a reporting restriction that needs the student to be three years old to be IDEA eligible, but the districts can provide services even when the student is under age three.
• Parent Placed Private: Whenever there is a change to the PPP flag, new IEP/ISP date(s) are triggered. Therefore, a new sSEPA record is submitted with these changes (we should receive an IEP End Date on the previous record and an ISP Begin Date on the new sSEPA record when the student changes from not PPP to being PPP.
• The date of change to one of the following sSEPA elements:
  • WI DPI FAPE Responsible School Reference
  • Special Education Setting (Education Environment)
  • Last Evaluation Date
  • IEP Begin Date
  • IEP End Date
  • Disability
  • Parent Placed Private
  • School ID

A new sSEPA is sent whenever one of the above events occurs. Do not send a new sSEPA when correcting a previously sent mistake in any of these elements.

sSEPA End Date

End Date on the special education record is only required in the following scenarios:

• When a subsequent sSEPA record exists in the same district for the student or
• IEP/ISP is revoked or
• The student is no longer eligible or
• The student exited special education services (e.g., Graduation, Max age so this should be the same date or after) or
• Student exited.  All students must be exited as of the last day of the school year.

 

USES: Primary Disability codes are used for disaggregated reporting and accountability purposes, including WISEdash, ESSA Report Card, Adequate Yearly Progress, Wisconsin School Performance Report, and the Wisconsin Continuous Improvement and Focused Monitoring System. Primary disability codes are also used in annual data reports required under IDEA, which are, in turn, used in reports to Congress and in state-by-state comparisons.

FAQs, Details, and Points to Note

1. Primary Disability: As defined by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), primary disability is the disability condition that best describes an IDEA-eligible student's impairment; the impairment that is most disabling. Students who are not IDEA-eligible or have no disability should be assigned a primary disability code of N. Primary Disability=No if one of the following applies:
   • Student is 21 or older prior to the school term begin date.
   • Student is not yet three on the count date.
   • Student is not yet three on the exit date or school term end date, whichever occurs first.
2. IDEA Eligibility: An "IDEA-Eligible" student must meet ALL of the following requirements:
   • Be a child age 3-21 years of age who has not graduated with a diploma from high school,
   • Be a child with an impairment(s), who because of that impairment(s) needs special education and related services as determined by a current evaluation and a current individualized education program (IEP) or a services plan for parentally-placed private school children,
   • The student is attending and receiving all of the services specified in the IEP/service plan, and
   • The student is receiving a free appropriate public education (FAPE) or is a parentally-placed private school student receiving special education or related services that meet state standards under a service plan (34 CFR 300.452--300.462).
3. Not IDEA-Eligible: A non-IDEA-eligible student would include:
   • A student between the ages of birth and three or age 22 and older who is receiving services from the school district
   • A student without a current evaluation or IEP
   • A student who is not receiving special education and related services, as specified in the IEP
   • A student who is not attending school, except for an excused absence or illness, e.g., a student whose whereabouts is unknown but who has not exited
   • A student who is in the process of expulsion and is not being served
   • A student who has received a high school diploma but is still receiving services
4. IDEA Eligibility for Choice Students: Students must have been IDEA eligible prior to attending a choice school to be reported by choice schools. Even if the students have a 504, if they have never had IDEA eligibility, they cannot be reported. If the student was covered, enter the appropriate information regarding the disability. If the student was not, remove the disability submission. No Choice school students are IDEA eligible unless previously considered so in a public school, so choice schools cannot take accountability for Oct. 1 counts. If PPP Choice students receive special education services in a public school, then the public school claims them for Oct. 1 and receives credit for that child count. If the student is 

   not actively receiving services from a public school in the current year and  no evidence has been submitted in prior years of having been IDEA eligible, these students cannot be reported as having a disability at the Choice school. 

5. Criteria Dates: The above criteria are applied as of a specific date based on the most current data available. For WISEdata count date records, the count dates are the Third Friday of September and October 1. WISEdata records should reflect the appropriate disability status as of these specific dates.
6. FAPE: According to Sec. 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, the term `free appropriate public education' means special education and related services that (A) have been provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; (B) meet the standards of the State educational agency; (C) include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school education in the State involved; and (D) are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required under section 614(d).
7. Special Education Graduates: When a student with disabilities graduates, the student's special education record must show that special education services continued until at least the exit date. Even if the student graduates prior to the last school year day, as seniors often do, the student will be documented properly as graduating with a disability so long as services continue through the exit date and the exit type is marked as High School Completion.
8. sSEPA Begin Date vs. IEP Begin Date: The sSEPA Begin Date can be in the future compared to the IEP Begin Date. For example, IEP Begin Date is 9/15, but the sSEPA Begin Date is 10/15 even if the IEP is implemented in this school year. 
   • Summer IEP Evaluations: If you have an IEP evaluation in the summer for the next school year, rather than creating a new sSEPA right away in the summer, hold off submitting the sSEPA record until there is a valid enrollment created for the upcoming year. If you submit a new sSEPA in the summer, you may receive an error in WISEdata.
9. sSEPA End Date for School Year End: Do NOT provide the sSEPA End Date at the end of the DPI school year, 6/30. It may negatively impact IDEA exit reporting which has a cycle of 7/1 to 6/30. If the sSEPA ends 6/30, then the child could inadvertently be counted as not disabled on 7/1. The sSEPA end date is usually the last day of the student's enrollment.
10. Exit Date Corresponding with sSEPA Record End Date: A district should not continue to keep a student enrolled after they have graduated. An early graduate is counted as a completer within their cohort and graduating early does not negatively impact a school's completion rate. However, if a student graduates early and their sSEPA enrollment continues, there will likely be a negative impact on attendance rate, since that sSEPA enrollment would result in the student being counted absent for the remainder of the school year after the graduation/exit date. As such, special ed early graduates' sSEPA records and enrollment records should end on the same day - the day on which graduation requirements were fulfilled and the student stopped receiving services. For example, if a student earned their diploma on  1/12/22 and stopped attending school at that time, the enrollment should be ended on 1/12/22 with the HSC exit type, the credential information should be sent to WISEdata, and the sSEPA record should be ended on 1/12/22 with exit reason E. A student will not be counted as a special education graduate if the sSEPA record ends before the enrollment record ends. 
11. sSEPA End Date Special Circumstances: In the scenario of a parent revoking consent or the IEP team determining the child is no longer eligible, a notice is sent to the parent indicating the date the services will end. This date should be used as the sSEPA End Date. In the scenario where the student exits the district while receiving special education services, this will be the End Date for the student.
12. Last Evaluation Date: The Last Evaluation Date is the date of the last special education evaluation (Form ER-1), or, if the parents and districts agree to waive the re-evaluation, then it would be the date of the notice of agreement that a three-year re-evaluation is not needed(Form RE-3).

13. sSEPA Record Submission Scenarios:

    • If a student resides in District A and receives services in the same district, then District A submits a) the enrollment record and b) the sSEPA record. They identify the school in the SSA as FAPE Responsible School ID.

    • If a student resides in District A but receives special education services in accordance with an IEP/ISP in District B, then District B submits a) the enrollment record and b) the sSEPA record and identifies a school within District A as FAPE Responsible School ID). District A should not do any reporting at all for the student.

    • Student resides in another state and is crossing the border to receive primary and special education services in a Wisconsin district. The records are submitted by the WI district as if they are a resident of the district for both a) SSA and b) sSEPA record. The FAPE Responsible School ID will be within the WI district.

    • If a student is a WI resident and his or her IEP places the student in a school in another state, the data could be reported as in the first scenario.

    • If a student resides in District A but is open enrolled in District B and receives special education services in District B, then District B submits a) enrollment and b) sSEPA record. FAPE Responsible School ID will be a school within District B. The district of residence will be District A. 

    • If a student resides in District A and is open enrolled in District B but receives Special Education services in District A, then District B submits a) the enrollment record and b) the sSEPA record, and the FAPE Responsible School ID within the record would be a school in District B. The resident district in this case will be District A.

    • If a student is open enrolled in District A and resides in District B and receives special education services in District C, then District A submits a) the enrollment record and b) the sSEPA record, and the FAPE Responsible School ID within the record would be a school in District A. The resident district in this case will be District B.

    • If a student with a disability was placed by a court in a Residential Care Center (RCC) receiving primary educational services on grounds within the boundaries of District A while the family resides in District B and the family moves to now reside in District C, then District B submits the enrollment record and sSEPA record and identifies a school in District B as the FAPE-responsible school. FAPE responsibility guide RCC District Submission Guide

    • If a student with a disability was placed by a court in a Residential Care Center (RCC) receiving primary educational services on grounds within the boundaries of District A while the family resided in District B and the child was in DOC or DHS at the time of placement, then District A submits the enrollment record and sSEPA record and identifies a school in District A as the FAPE-responsible school.

    • If a student with a disability was placed by a parent or guardian in a Residential Care Center (RCC) receiving primary educational services on grounds within the boundaries of District A, then this student is a private school student. If District A has an ISP, then District A submits the enrollment record and sSEPA record and identifies a school in District A as the FAPE-responsible school.

    • If a student was placed by a parent or guardian in a private school and receives special education services from District A, District A submits an enrollment record and the sSEPA. If the student either takes part in the Choice program or attends a Choice school which has opted into the All School Report Card, then the Choice school will also send an enrollment record and disability in the student record, but not a sSEPA record. Both the enrollment records should be flagged as Primary. Choice school receives credit for Third Friday of September count inclusion and the public school receives credit for the October 1 Child Count.

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