This email was sent to: Superintendents, PD Data System contacts, Directors of Special Education, CIOs and RICs of all public school districts and other educational programs that must provide October 7, 2009 special education data for VR1-6 and VR8 reports on January 8, 2010.


Next Wednesday, on January 13, 2010, all school districts and educational programs that are required to certify the 2009 - 2010 special education data in VR1-6 and VR8 reports will see the two certification options stated below. These options will appear after these reports are refreshed with data from the State's repository from Friday, January 8, 2010. All school districts must submit (electronically) through the PD data system at http://pd.nysed.gov, one of the two certifications. These certification options will appear below each of the VR1-6 and VR8 reports. Please review each of these reports before you submit your certification because when you certify any one of these reports, they will all be certified with the same certification option:

Certification option 1. I certify that my school districts data are complete and accurate.

Certification option 2. I cannot certify that my school districts data are complete and accurate; however, I understand that the deadline for making corrections has passed and that these data may be used for any State and district reports and decisions.

If you select the first option, you will be instructed to print a Certification and Assurance Form (CAF) from the PD data system menu bar under the 2009-10 school year, have it signed by the superintendent or chief administrative officer and mailed to SEDCAR at One Commerce Plaza, Room 1613, Albany, New York 12234. Your special education data in VR1-6 and VR8 reports will be final. We hope that most school districts will be able to select this certification option.

If you select the second option, you will need to do the following immediately because submission and certification of complete and accurate data is a requirement for the receipt of federal funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Step 1. Complete the template to explain why the school district (or educational program) was not able to certify complete and accurate special education snapshot data by January 13, 2010 and send it as an attachment to an e-mail message or fax it to SEDCAR from the school district's superintendent (or chief administrative officer).

Step 2. Make the necessary corrections to the special education snapshot data in Level 0 by following the RIC's schedule and directions. The RICs and large cities will continue to migrate special education snapshot data on January 15 and on January 22. The PD data system will display the data that are in the State's data repositories on January 20 and 27, 2010 for school districts that have sent us the template as requested in item 1 above.

If you need assistance or if you have any questions, please call the SEDCAR unit by telephoning (518) 474-7965. You may also e-mail your questions by sending an e-mail message to datasupport@nysed.gov.

Thank you for your efforts in completing the special education snapshot data submission and certification process for the 2009-10 school year.