As part of the special education process Idaho schools needs a system to efficiently create & securely store student Individual Education Programs (IEPs). Upon examining other states with some form of statewide IEP systems, the SDE identified primary benefits such as:

• Uniform training and professional development leading to increased compliance with the  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act  (IDEA) and Idaho regulations and statute

• Streamlined transfer of student records in/out of a the school district or charter

• Improved, more immediate data collection/reporting for better accountability & decision making

• Collective statewide contract with a vendor allowing significant cost savings and reduction in time and resources spent by a school in procuring and managing their own vendor contract

Additional benefits anticipated specifically from the Idaho EdPlan system:

• Dynamic language translation allowing for quicker communication and provision of documents to non-English speaking individuals and families

• Intuitive user interface accelerating the completion of required paperwork allowing school staff more time to work with students

• Ease in the reporting burden upon schools as the system enhances the automation of data being sent to the Idaho System for Educational Excellence (ISEE) and other reports required by the state for monitoring and compliance

• Stylized documents created by the system use less paper, and are easier for individuals and families to read and understand thus increasing their participation in the special education process.

Currently, as part of a school district or charter’s application for special education funding, the SDE has included a per qualifying student, line item dollar amount for the district/charter pay for their own system or manage their SPED records otherwise. Districts/Charters opting to use the Idaho EdPlan system will forego further receipt of the previous line item funds; and the Idaho EdPlan system will come at no additional cost to the district/charter. PLEASE NOTE – the Idaho EdPlan system focuses solely on the creation and management of special education records & IEPs. While the vendor, PCG, offers other features and solutions that pair well with the eIEP system – these additional services must be evaluated, contracted & paid for by the district/charter separately from the SDE provided Idaho EdPlan system.

While the Idaho EdPlan system is contracted and paid for by the SDE; all ownership of student records, data, and information will be retained by the participating district or charter school. Although this digital data may be hosted by PCG (securely in compliance to federal and state privacy and security laws); the SDE does not require and will not have universal access to it. Instead, participating districts/charters will be able to activate specific individual student records for direct access by the SDE for the purpose of supervision and monitoring. The district/charter will control the timeline for this access. Additionally, as the Idaho EdPlan system may facilitate automated preparation of ISEE data for reporting – districts/charters must still verify and approve submission of this data to the SDE.

Currently, the SDE is in the initial phase of roll out of the Idaho EdPlan system and foresees the following implementation windows:

• Initial Phase 1 roll out for opt in schools– Spring 2019
• Underway, with 39 districts/charters
• Phase 2 roll out for opt in schools– Summer 2019
• Opt-in period opening April 2019
• Ongoing opt in and roll out occurring each summer depending on district/charter demand