To: Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives
From: California Department of Education (CDE) –
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS) Team
Date: June 18, 2024
Subject: CALPADS Update FLASH #281
District of Choice and Data Reporting
Background
California Education Code (EC) Section 48300 through 48316 authorizes the District of Choice (DOC) program. Under this program, local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to register with the California Department of Education (CDE) and their respective County Office of Education (COE), and designated DOCs must meet program and reporting requirements. Information about the DOC program can be found on the CDE’s website, which includes the list of LEAs currently designated as a DOC, on the CDE District of Choice web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/dc/. Currently, there are 44 LEAs designated as a DOC. If your LEA is not a DOC, you may disregard this Flash.
CALPADS Data Reporting Requirements
DOCs are required to submit data to the CDE through the California Basic Educational Data System – Online Reporting Application (CBEDS-ORA) and the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), which the CDE then annually reports to the Legislature, Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst’s Office. This Flash only focuses on data submitted by DOCs to CALPADS.
The majority of DOC reporting requirements are met with student demographic data that LEAs already submit to CALPADS. For the CDE to meet its reporting requirements, DOCs must also populate on the Student Enrollment (SENR) file, for students transferring to the LEA under the DOC program:
- Field 1.30 – Student School Transfer Code with Student School Transfer code 4 – District of Choice; and
- Field 1.31 – District of Geographic Residence
SENR0320E3 Re-enabled on June 18, 2024
Certification Data Discrepancy (CDD) SENR0320E3 was recently disabled to reconfirm the need for the District of Residence for students transferring to the DOC not under the DOC program. The CDD will be re-enabled on June 18, 2024, because it is important to ensure that Field 1.30 - Student School Transfer Code is populated for students transferring to a DOC, if the student has an enrollment status of primary or short-term and the student's most recent prior enrollment is in a California public school in a different district.
If the student transferring to the LEA is not transferring under the DOC program, the LEA should populate Field 1.30 – Student School Transfer Code with another appropriate school transfer code. It is likely that the appropriate code for most other students is 6 – Other Transfer. The definition of this code was recently updated in the CALPADS Code Set, version 15.4, to the following:This is any other type of transfer that may occur including, but not limited to:- Students voluntarily choosing to transfer to a county office of education school, who were not transferred due to any of the reasons specified in the “Disciplinary COE School Transfer” code.
- Students who have established residency because their parents work in the area.
- Students with disabilities transferring to another school because it is written into their Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
- Students transferring to a charter school that is outside their district of residence.
- Students who are naturally matriculating into the district or who establish residency in the district in other ways.
Service and Support: CALPADS-CSIS Service Desk | calpads-support@cde.ca.gov | 916-325-9210