Dr. Deneen Guss, County Superintendent of Schools
Submittals
About Submittals
During Fall 1 and Fall 2, districts certify data reflective of "Census Day", which is always the first Wednesday in October. School enrollments change from day to day, and Census Day allows CDE to "compare apples to apples" by looking at the data across the state as it was for each school on the same day. End of Year (EOY) data is cumulative for the entire academic year.
EOY and 2026-27
The Regional Updates Meeting shared important information about changes to EOY and the 2026-27 school year, including new course codes, retired job assignments, and other need-to-knows for data staff. Please check out the CALPADS Regional Updates May 2026 document in an easy-to-search format.
Regular Data Maintenance Processes
Periodic Reconciliations
Repeated maintenance tasks will address errors and issues on a regular basis, making Fall 1, 2, and EOY submittals much easier to manage, and making reporting deadlines easily met. Depending on the number of students and programs, maintenance can be done more or less often, as needed.
Remember, these steps are just to stay ahead of foreseeable errors and missing data. The results don't have to be perfect but they will reduce reporting period overload and stress.
Districts should run these processes based on the frequency of data changes within the student information system (SIS).
- Step 1: SENR (SSID Enrollment)
- Step 2: SINF (Student Information)
- Step 3: SPRG (Student Program)
- Step 4: SELA (Student English Language Acquisition)
- Step 5: MEPS (Migrant Eligible Program Students)
- MCOE's Protocol
Step 1: SENR (SSID Enrollment)
About the SENR Process
The student enrollment data are submitted through the Student Enrollment (SENR) file and include only the student data required to obtain SSIDs, enroll or exit students, and update students’ grade levels in CALPADS.
The SENR is also used to update CALPADS with student enrollments and exits and grade levels. The SENR is not used to update a student’s demographic information; rather, student demographic information must be updated using the Student Information File (SINF).
The SSID Enrollment (SENR) provides the ability for an authorized user to view one or all of a student’s enrollment records and edit existing records or add new ones.
There are 2 ways to submit/ edit a SSID Enrollment record.
- Through Online Maintenance under Student Detail
- Through Batch File submission
The Student Enrollment container appears on the Student Details page. The page opens with the Student Enrollment container expanded to show all historical enrollment records. This appears after searching an existing SSID or after a user post a new SSID request. The system will display all Enrollment records by default, but will only allow editing of records belonging to the user’s LEA. The selected student’s historical records will be displayed in reverse chronological order.
NOTE: If a user is not authorized to add, edit, or view confidential data types, some records will not be displayed.
Step 2: SINF (Student Information)
About the SINF Process
The Student Information data are comprised of the student demographics and address and appears as two separate container in the Student Details page. The page opens with the Demographics and Address containers in the collapsed position. Clicking the down arrow on the containers displays the individual records for the selected student. The system will display all demographics and address records by default, but only will allow editing of records belonging to the user’s LEA. The selected student’s historical records will be displayed in reverse chronological order. NOTE: If a user is not authorized to add, edit, or view confidential data types, some student records will not be displayed.
Step 3: SPRG (Student Program)
About the SPRG Process
The Student Program container appears on the Student Details page. The page opens with the Student Program container in the collapsed position. Clicking the down arrow on the containers displays the individual program records for the selected student. The system will display all Program records by default, but only will allow editing of Program records belonging to the user’s LEA. The selected student’s historical records will be displayed in reverse chronological order. NOTE: If a user is not authorized to add, edit, or view confidential data types, some student program records will not be displayed.
Step 4: SELA (Student English Language Acquisition)
About the SELA Process
The Student English Language Acquisition container provides the ability for an authorized user to view one or all of a student’s English Language Acquisition records and provides links to edit existing records or add new ones.
Note: The Aeries step-by-step process is for reference o
Step 5: MEPS (Migrant Eligible Program Students)
About the SELA Process
The Student English Language Acquisition container provides the ability for an authorized user to view one or all of a student’s English Language Acquisition records and provides links to edit existing records or add new ones.
Note: The Aeries step-by-step process is for reference o
MCOE's Protocol
MCOE's regularly scheduled maintenance is weekly, but your district may choose bi-weekly or monthly depending on your student turnover and complexity of programs.
To prevent erroneous overwriting of data, regularly scheduled maintenance is done by one designee or one designee at a time.
Submissions are made on behalf of school programs to CALPADS for the maintenance of student records as follows:
- Each Tuesday morning, the Data Reporting Analyst generates CALPADS extracts in the steps order above for all Monterey COE schools, and imports the files into the student information system (SIS) for reconciliation.
- The Data Reporting Analyst submits any Student Information System (SIS) generated files to CALPADS.
- Any resulting errors are distributed by the IT Data Reporting Analyst to the correlating schools' Student Data Specialists for correction.
- The IT Data Reporting Analyst works in conjunction with the Student Data Specialists and other staff to eliminate errors and post corrected data to CALPADS. NOTE: This process ensures that the SIS data are inline with CALPADS by comparing data and fixing errors.
How should students with disabilities be enrolled in CALPADS?
The following table summarizes for SWD in each grade level, the enrollment status that should be used, and which files at a minimum (Student Enrollment [SENR], Student Information [SINF], Student Program [SPRG], Student English Language Acquisition [SELA]) must first be submitted to CALPADS before submitting a Special Education (SPED) file:
| Grade Level | Enrollment Status | SENR | SINF | SPRG | SENR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infants and Toddlers (IN, TD) |
Non-ADA (50) | Yes | Yes* *Birth Country and Parent Highest Education level NOT required |
No | No |
| Prekindergarten (PS) | Primary (10) | Yes | Yes | Yes* *Most notably, homeless, migrant, free and reduced-price meals |
No |
| TK-12 Attending Public School | Primary (10) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Direct Certification
State matching occurs at the beginning of each month and the Direct Certification results are made available in CALPADS a few days after. The CDE requires this update to your SIS and/or your nutrition software with the list of certified students at least three (3) times a year.
Resources
About Direct Certification
Agencies that provide a variety of services to our students have databases that interface with CALPADS. NSLP records are included in this and free/reduced records may be found in CALPADS that were not reported by families. For this reason, downloading, reconciling, and uploading students who do not exist can be uploaded into your SIS and/or your nutrition software to provide students accordingly. The CDE requires this at least three times per year.
Some SISs, like Aeries, currently does not have a mechanism to omit or update already existing records. The upload will add new records to all students included in the file, so a reconciliation should be done to omit records that already exist in your SIS.
Source Eligibility Codes
| Code | Type | Eligibility Definition |
|---|---|---|
| S | SNAP | The student is directly certified for free meals because the student is receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (also know as CalFresh). Imports into Aeries* as Free (F) code |
| M | Free MediCal | The student is directly certified for free meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program. Imports into Aeries* as Free (F) code |
| R | Reduced MediCal | The student is directly certified for reduced-price meals because the student has met the income eligibility criteria through the MediCal program. Imports into Aeries* as Reduced (R) code |
| T | TANF | The student is directly certified for reduced-price meals through TANF, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (CalWORKS). Imports into Aeries* as Free (F) code |
| N | Not Certified | The student is not directly certified for free meals. Does not Import into Aeries* |
*If you do not use Aeries, please refer to your SIS for their specific guidelines.
Resources
- Important Dates & Deadlines
- Support & Quick Self-Help Resources
- Consequences of Not Certifying by the Deadline
Important Dates & Deadlines
Important Dates
| Submission |
Recommended Date |
Certification Deadline | Amendment Window Deadline |
SELPA Approval Required by Amendment Window Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 1 | November 21, 2025 | December 12, 2025* | January 23, 2026 | Yes |
| Fall 2 | February 13, 2026 | February 27, 2026 | No Amendment Window | No |
| End-of-Year (EOY) 1 | June 26, 2026 | July 17, 2026 | July 31, 2026 | Yes |
| End-of-Year (EOY) 2 | August 3, 2026 | August 17, 2026 | No Amendment Window | No |
*SELPA approval is strongly encouraged but not required.
Link to the official CDE CALPADS Calendar: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/rptcalendar.asp
Support & Quick Self-Help Resources
Technical Assistance
If you need to create a ticket with the CDE for CALPADS technical assistance, you may submit a ticket to their helpdesk: CALPADS Helpdesk
Open Q&A Zoom Hours
You can join the CALPADS Q&A session via Zoom every Wednesday from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: CALPADS Zoom Office Hours
Statewide LEA Contacts
Need to contact an LEA to update a student but don't know who to contact? CSIS has you covered with their statewide database. California LEA Contacts
Batch File Templates
Load SIS extract files into CALPADS's templates to easily find missing data that correlates to the CALPADS uploads: Batch File Templates
Consequences of Not Certifying by the Deadline
The consequences of not certifying on time ranges from negative impacts on funding to inaccurate data published on DataQuest and/or the CA School Dashboard. CSIS has published a document entitled How CALPADS Data Are Used and Consequences which clearly communicates the impact of not certifying by the submittal deadline.