The purpose of state special education funding (K.S.A 72-3422 ) is to supplement 92% of the excess cost incurred by local education agencies (LEA) for the provision of special education and related services to eligible students. However the Kansas Legislature has not provided sufficient funding to meet this requirement. LEA’s must transfer additional amounts, as necessary, from the General Funds in order to cover remaining costs of special education.

Reimbursement Guide
Licensure Information for Categorical Aid Reimbursement
Personnel Categorical Aid (PCA)
Catastrophic Aid
Non-Public Equivalency Contracts-Special Teacher Reimbursement
Vacancy Reports
Special Education Attrition Report

FY2023 Special Education Reimbursement Guide (PDF)
FY2022 Special Education Reimbursement Guide (PDF)

FY23 announcement and board action on Substitutes (PDF)

Deadlines (Appendix A) (PDF)

Payment Information (School Finance)

Presentation at 2021 Leadership Conference (Vimeo link)

Fiscal Guidelines and Manuals Page
     Form 308 Instructions (PDF) Special Education Transportation

Transportation Reimbursement questions: Sara Barnes sbarnes@ksde.org

Forms:

Educational Interpreter Prof Dev Plan (Word) / (PDF) Send (scan/email) to Evelyn when complete
Hand Approval Request (fillable PDF) Email to Evelyn when complete
   Hand Approval Request for Special Education Administrators (fillable PDF) Email to Evelyn when complete

KSDE Information:

KSDE Endorsements/Categorical Aid Chart (PDF)
Types of Teaching Licenses for Waivers and Substitutes (PDF)
Waivers and Provisionals Tip Sheet (PDF)
Which Kansas License works in which Early Childhood Education Setting for Categorical Aid? (PDF)
Waiver Information page (Teacher Education/Licensure)
KSDE License Lookup
     Reading the KSDE License Lookup Tip Sheet (PDF)

Interpreter Information:

KSDE Interpreter Resources (Sensory Losses Page)
Educational Interpreter Prof Dev Plan (Word) / (PDF) Send (scan/email) to Evelyn when complete
Interpreters and Categorical Aid FAQ (PDF)
Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, contact Megan Essary (785) 368-8034 megan.essary@ks.gov
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (Interpreters national certification) (external link)
Missouri Division of Professional Registration (Sign Language Interpreters level Advanced or Master only) (external link)

License Lookup/Information (Non-KSDE):

Kansas
Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board (Social Workers/Behavior Analysts) (external link)
Kansas Board of Healing Arts (KBHA) (OT, PT) (external link)
Kansas Health Occupations Credentialing - KDADS (Speech Language, Registered Dietician, Audiologist) (external link)
    Kansas Guidelines for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists (external PDF)
Kansas Board of Nursing (NU) (external link)

National/Other
Behavior Analyst Certification Board (Behavior Analyst national certification) (external link)
Art Therapy Credentials Board (Art Therapist national certification) (external link)
Certification Board for Music Therapists (Music Therapist national certification) (external link)
Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (Orientation/Mobility national certification) (external link)

The Categorical Aid Personnel System (CAPS) will not be the program for the special teacher portion of Categorical Aid reimbursement after the 2021-22 school year. Information will be sent out as soon as possible for getting access to the new program, Personnel Categorical Aid (PCA).

CAPS User Guide (PDF)

The guidelines for Categorical Aid are always found in the Reimbursement Guide, at the top of this page. You need something other than District Read Only to enter data or create ID numbers for non-KSDE licensed staff. The district special education director or superintendent will approve access.

PCA is used for claiming reimbursement from State Categorical Aid for staff used to provide special education and related services.

Authenticated Applications - to access this and many other KSDE programs

Guides:

User Guide (PDF) User guides for the new application are still being worked on. The old one for CAPS is linked above for a short time.
     Error Checking: Errors, Discrepancies, and Substitutes (PDF)

Training Videos:

Training on the new program is being developed. Live training at will also take place. In the meantime, there are these to get you started if you're new to claiming special teacher reimbursement.

• Overview of Categorical Aid (Vimeo)
  This is a presentation I did for new directors. 15 minutes and covers "what categorical aid is" and hopefully makes clear why we can't give a final amount until the end of the year. And why checking reports is important.
• Basics of Categorical Aid special teacher claiming (Zoom) (Passcode: L0LF3=h1)
  for beginners to special education and the concept of reimbursement. 45 minutes.
• Basics of Qualifications (Zoom) (Passcode: 30=zR1.e) (my apologies for the yawning, I really do find this interesting!)
  covers where to look for qualification requirements, where to look them up. Nearly an hour (sorry)

File Specs:

Staff ID File Upload Specifications (PDF)
Staff ID Blank upload .csv file (can open in spreadsheet, contains header row) (.csv)
Records created in CAPS can be modified by CAPS users, if a record was created by or has been modified by Teacher Licensure, the following form must be submitted to update names: Form to update KSDE licensure name or address (PDF)
Positions File Upload Specifications (PDF)
Positions Blank upload .csv file (can open in spreadsheet, contains header row) (.csv)

CAPS listserv

There is email functionality in the PCA application. I'm going to leave the CAPS listserv open for now while we see if it will be needed.
To sign up, send this information:
  Send to this address: ealden@ksde.org
  Subject line: CAPS Listserv
  Body of message: Email address, First Name, Last Name, LEA Number

For assistance or questions, please contact Evelyn Alden ealden@ksde.org, 785-296-3868

NPE and catastrophic aid reporting requirements are found in the Data Dictionary, instructions for NPE and catastrophic aid data entry are found in the SPEDPro User guide. Both documents may be found on the MIS and Student Data page: https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=519

Catastrophic Aid Form (Excel)

Catastrophic Aid questions: Mason Vosburgh mvosburgh@ksde.org

Calculators section in Fiscal Auditing

NPE and catastrophic aid reporting requirements are found in the Data Dictionary, instructions for NPE and catastrophic aid data entry are found in the SPEDPro User guide. Both documents may be found on the MIS and Student Data page: https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=519

Contract FY (Word) (PDF)
Contract Revision FY (Word) / (PDF)
Formula Memo (PDF)

Non-Public Equivalency Contract questions: Mason Vosburgh mvosburgh@ksde.org

To address the Special Education personnel shortage, the exact number and type of unfilled budgeted positions in the State is reported by districts.  This information is used in reports required by the Federal Government, planning by the legislature, universities and colleges, the State Board of Education, and local education agencies.

Personnel Vacancy Report by LEA (PDF)
Personnel Vacancy Report by Area (PDF)
Vacancy Report Instructions (PDF)
Kansas Education Employment Board

The Kansas Special Education Attrition Report, conducted by the Kansas Education Employment Board (KEEB), is intended to determine how many special education personnel in Kansas are not returning each year. The data in this report is collected annually by KSDE for special teacher categorical aid, and is used here to identify personnel who have left the field of special education and a specific school district

Attrition Between 2020/21-21/22 (PDF)
Attrition Between 2018/19-19/20 (PDF)
Attrition Between 2016/17-17/18 (PDF)