CALPADS Update Flash #238

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:      September 16, 2022

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #238

Submission to the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System

This is a reminder that LEAs must submit a CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file, for each calendar month August 2021 through May 2022, to the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System by September 30, 2022. These data will be used in conjunction with CALPADS Operational Data Store (ODS) data to determine student eligibility and benefit levels under the Pandemic Electronic Transfer (P-EBT) program for the 2021−22 school year. Please refer to Flash 235 for an overview of the 2021−22 P-EBT program, and the ISAC submission.

The ISAC Reporting System is available from the CDE website at https://www2.cde.ca.gov/isacreportingsystem [The preceding link is no longer valid.]. LEA CALPADS Administrators have been granted access to the ISAC Reporting System and may retrieve their access code by using the “Recover your Access Code” feature on the ISAC Reporting System login page. Once you request to recover your access code, the access code will be emailed to you, provided you are the LEA CALPADS Administrator of record. You may look up your LEA’s CALPADS Administrator using the search feature at https://www2.cde.ca.gov/isacreportingsystem/LEASearch [The preceding link is no longer valid.]. If your LEA CALPADS Administrator of record needs to be updated, or you need to establish access for additional staff, please contact the ISAC Team at isac@cde.ca.gov. [The preceding link is no longer valid.] 

ISAC Submission Clarification

Are Non-Public School (NPS) students submitted to ISAC?

Since LEAs do not submit STAS data for NPS students, data for these students are not expected in ISAC. If STAS data for NPS students are submitted, the data will be ignored. Data for NPS students will be collected through a separate private school collection administered by the CDE’s Nutrition Services Division (NSD). Information about NSD’s private school collection for P-EBT can be found on the CDE P-EBT for Private and Nonpublic School Students web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/pebtprivatenonpublic2122.asp. [The preceding link is no longer valid.]

Are STAS data submitted to ISAC for schools not participating in a meals program?

Generally, only students who are enrolled in a school that is participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and/or School Breakfast Program (SBP) are eligible for P-EBT benefits. LEAs, however, should submit STAS data for all schools regardless if the school is participating in the NSLP and/or SBP. This is because students enrolled in non-participating schools often go to another participating site to receive meals under NSLP or SBP and these students are eligible for P-EBT benefits. Therefore, LEAs should submit STAS data for all schools, unless the LEA is absolutely certain that no students enrolled at a non-participating school are receiving meals at another participating site.

Can data for schools within an LEA be uploaded to ISAC separately?

No. The CDE will only use the last file uploaded into the system for each month. If schools are submitted separately, it will overwrite the previous submission, therefore, data for all schools in the LEA must be submitted in one file. If your LEA uses multiple student information system (SIS) vendors and you have separate STAS files for your schools, you will need to consolidate the data and upload one file containing all of your LEA’s data.

When is the ISAC Submission Complete?

An LEA’s ISAC submission is considered complete once 10 files, one for each month August 2021 – May 2022, have been submitted. If an LEA resubmits a file for any given month, it will overwrite the existing file for that month. LEAs may update files at any time up through 5:00 PM on September 30, 2022. The CDE will then begin processing the data and determining P-EBT eligibility and benefit levels.

Resources and Assistance

Any questions or problems related to the ISAC Reporting System should be sent to isac@cde.ca.gov [The preceding link is no longer valid].

Instructions and training videos on the ISAC Reporting System are available as follows:

• Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) web page: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/isac.asp [The preceding link is no longer valid.]
• ISAC Reporting Instructions: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/isacinstructions.asp [The preceding link is no longer valid.]
• CALPADS Update Flash #235: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash235.asp
• Training Video: System Access – ISAC Reporting System Training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLgIRGe0-q7SbVEjx0H8epcH8FRsbgZz4l&v=FrGhIvQzgas [The preceding link is no longer valid.]
• Training Video: Upload Data – ISAC Reporting System Training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLgIRGe0-q7SbVEjx0H8epcH8FRsbgZz4l&v=rV9pGi0Lh24 [The preceding link is no longer valid.]

Reminder to Update Student Addresses in CALPADS

As described in Flash 235, student mailing addresses will be pulled from the CALPADS Operational Data Store (ODS) after September 30, 2022 and used for the issuance of P-EBT cards. As such, the CDE requests that LEAs populate either the school or district address for any student records where no address is available, such as for students experiencing homelessness or otherwise having no permanent address. If a student address field is blank, the CDE will include the district office address for the student prior to sending the information to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) for the issuance of P-EBT cards.