Category Archives: News

On November 18th, it was announced that all fiscal year 2017-18 IEP claims will be reprocessed, reversed, and repaid at the new final rate. You should have received the new final rate in your MN-ITS mailbox this September. Due to the volume of claims to be revised, some providers may choose to suspend billing during December in order to process the remittance. 

Part off the settle-up process is that your FY 2020 interim rate is your final rate from FY 2018. That means that now is a good time to review your FY20 data and compare it to the final FY18 data. This may seem like a hassle, but luckily, MA Forms reports make reviewing your data simple and straightforward. 

MA Forms’ Annual Rates report can help you compare average times per encounter, especially for personal care services. To determine if you should update your FY20 rates, use the Annual Rates Report to divide the number of hours by the number of encounters. If the average time per encounter is reduced or increased by an hour or more, we suggest sending updated rate information to the DHS. 

This is just one example of how MA Forms helps make the MA billing process simpler for administrators and districts. Periodically using the Annual Rates report to review your average time per encounter can help you keep your revenue consistent with your data. 

Finally, although the Thanksgiving holiday has already come to an end, the SpEd Forms team would like you to know how much we appreciate your continued support and input. We hope you had a wonderful holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

All SpEd Forms sites will be unavailable due to maintenance and updating starting at 10pm Friday, December 6th until noon Saturday, December 7th. The update will include the changes listed below:

504 Forms
1. The Parent/Student Rights form has been updated.
(Source: Angela Bunnell , Rum River Special Education Cooperative #40628)

Other Forms
1. Spanish, Hmong and Somali translations of the Prior Written Notice and Consent/Objection (Fall 2019) forms were published to our servers in mid-November.
(Source: Diane McCarron, SpEd Forms #41028)
2. Testing accommodations for State Assessments and District-wide Assessments (pages 8 & 9) of the IEP have been added to the IEP Snapshot form. If your site has Viewpoint integration and you want the new accommodations information to be included in Viewpoint, please re-finalize any existing IEP Snapshot forms. Re-finalizing will send a new IEP Snapshot to Viewpoint with the accommodations.
(Source: Kelli Byrnes, SpEd Forms #40825)
3. A transportation change checkbox and text field has been added to the Special Education Data Sheet.
(Source: Jennifer Middendorf, Burnsville Public School District #40729)
4. A serving school drop down field has been added to the Enrollment record page.
(Source: Mark Oehrlein, SpEd Forms #40480)
5. A new form titled “Emergency Health/Transportation Information” has been added for use.
(Source: SpEd Forms Advisory Committee, #40712)

Reports
1. Updated Prior Written Notice and Consent/Objection (Fall 2019) forms have been added to the available Blank Forms in PDF Format.
(Source: Carole Pankow, South St. Paul Public Schools #40928)
2. “EXITed Students w/Last Service Date in 2019-20” has been added as an admin quick report.
(Source: Sue Tupy, Tri-City United Schools #41309)
3. “Students with discontinued status end codes” has also been added as an administrative quick report.
(Source: Jennifer Clausen, Owatonna Public Schools #41060)
4. A third admin quick report titled “Formerly DD students who qualified categorically” is available for use.
(Source: Diane McCarron, SpEd Forms #40815)

Announcements

1. We will be doing significant infrastructure and security improvements with the December update. Because of the large scope of these changes, we will need additional time to complete the update. All sites will be unavailable from Friday at 10:00pm until Saturday at 12:00 noon. Thank you for your patience while we improve our systems.

2. On January 4th, 2020 the Calendar button on the Main Menu will be eliminated due to infrequent use.

3. On January 4th, 2020 “My evaluations” will be removed under Educator Reports due to the availability of the Assessment Tracker.

Until recently, SpEd Forms was only available in Minnesota. However, after multiple requests for expansion to Wisconsin by state line-hopping special educators, we decided to embrace the challenge and develop a Wisconsin version of SpEd Forms. WI Sped Forms is now available to Wisconsin school districts and includes all forms recommended by the WI DPI.

The software has already been tested in several districts around the state. In the summer of 2019, SpEd Forms was released to a pilot group of Wisconsin school districts that had been previously using Oasys, SEAS, and eSTAR. SpEd Forms software was received positively by teachers and administrators alike. Teachers like that SpEd Forms includes helpful features including a goal bank, test bank, and comprehensive drop down lists not previously available. Administrators like SpEd Forms’ extensive reporting features. In addition, many users from pilot districts mentioned how easy SpEd Forms is to use, as well as our responsive technical support team.

Here’s what the Director of Special Education Boyceville Community School District had to say: “We had been with our old system for over 10 years and SpEd Forms far exceeds my expectations, hopes and dreams of a user-friendly system.” 

Bethany Vannest, an advisor at Escuela Verde, commented on SpEd Forms’ ease of use, writing: “The tools and features that I need to use on a regular basis are easy to access, make sense, and I don’t have a lot of extra features crowding my screen that I don’t need.”

So what is SpEd Forms? SpEd Forms is simple, reliable, and powerful special education software designed by special educators for special educators.  Since 1993, SpEd Forms has been making it easier for teachers to complete special education due process paperwork and for administrators to have up-to-the-minute access to special education data in a cost-effective manner.

To learn more about SpEd Forms please visit https://spedforms.com/wi-sped-forms/

On Saturday, November 2nd, an update will be posted to all SpEd Forms sites. The update will include the changes listed below:

IEP
1. The IEP Snapshot will finalize as a separate document each time you finalize an IEP.
(Source: Jennifer Clausen, Owatonna Public Schools #40609)

ER
1. “Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development – 4th Edition” and “Preschool Language Assessment Instrument – 2nd Edition” have both been added for use.
(Source: Gary Lewis, SpEd Forms #40536/40686)

Other Forms
1. In May 2019, the MN legislature amended statutes pertaining to the Prior Written Notice and Parental Consent forms. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) then convened a workgroup to address the statutory changes. In October, MDE posted a new Prior Written Notice Model Form and a new Consent/Objection Model Form. Our forms have been updated accordingly.
(Source: Diane McCarron, SpEd Forms #40611)
2. The MARSS transportation code drop down has been removed from the ESY Services form as it is not needed here.
(Kim Huether, Brainerd School District #39983)

System Changes
1. The character limit for custom drop downs has been increased from 250 to 500 characters.
(Source: Heather Guzik, Rush City School District #39935)
2. Teacher’s history upload limit has increased from 5 to 10Mb.
(Kim Huether, Brainerd School District #40493)

Announcements

1. Our login page has a fresh face! As of the November 2nd update, your login page will be sleeker, cleaner, and feature our new logo.
2. On January 4th, 2020 the Calendar button on the Main Menu will be eliminated due to infrequent use.

In May 2019, the MN legislature amended statutes pertaining to the Prior Written Notice and Parental Consent forms.  The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) then convened a workgroup to address the statutory changes. In October, MDE posted a new Prior Written Notice Model Form and a new Consent/Objection Model Form.

SpEd Forms will update to the new versions of the forms in the November 2nd Monthly Update and the old versions of the form will no longer be available. No data will be lost in moving to the new English form.  We recommend finalizing all PWNs completed to date in order to preserve the format. 

Translated forms will be made available after they are posted by MDE. 

Legislation from Minnesota Session Laws-2019, 1st Special Session, May 28, 2019

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 125A.091, subdivision 3a, is amended to read:Subd. 3a. Additional requirements for prior written notice. In addition to federal law requirements, a prior written notice shall:

1. inform the parent that except for the initial placement of a child in special education, the school district will proceed with its proposal for the child’s placement or for providing special education services unless the child’s parent notifies the district of an objection within 14 days of when the district sends the prior written notice to the parent; and
2. state that a parent who objects to a proposal or refusal in the prior written notice may:
   • request a conciliation conference under subdivision 7 or another alternative dispute resolution procedure under subdivision 8 or 9; or
   • identify the specific part of the proposal or refusal the parent objects to and request a meeting with appropriate members of the individualized education program team.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 125A.091, subdivision 7, is amended to read:

Subd. 7. Conciliation conference. 

A parent must have an opportunity to request a meeting with appropriate members of the individualized education program team or meet with appropriate district staff in at least one conciliation conference if the parent objects to any proposal of which the parent receives notice under subdivision 3a. A district must hold a conciliation conference within ten calendar days from the date the district receives a parent’s objection to a proposal or refusal in the prior written notice request for a conciliation conference. Except as provided in this section, all discussions held during a conciliation conference are confidential and are not admissible in a due process hearing. Within five school days after the final conciliation conference, the district must prepare and provide to the parent a conciliation conference memorandum that describes the district’s final proposed offer of service. This memorandum is admissible in evidence in any subsequent proceeding. 

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