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March 24, 2025
To: Special Education Directors, Business Managers, and SEDRA Contacts
From: Division of School Finance, Special Education Funding and Data
This is to notify you that the SFY 2026 Special Education Program Assurances are now available in MEGS. They will need to be completed in MEGS under the Central Data Collection tile by June 30, 2025, to be eligible to receive federal allocations.
The Central Data Collection tile and the Program Assurances need to be completed and in Approved status in MEGS by June 30 of each fiscal year in order to be substantially approved.
The following finance codes are located under the Program Assurance tab in the Central Data Collection tile:
- FIN 419 – Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B Section 611 Regular
- FIN 420 – IDEA Part B Section 619 Preschool Incentive
- FIN 421 – IDEA Part B Section 611 Regional Low Incidence Discretionary
- FIN 422 – IDEA Part C Infant and Toddlers, Ages 0-2
- FIN 423 – IDEA Part C Regional Interagency Early Intervention Committee (IEIC) Intergovernmental Agreement, Ages 0-2
- FIN 425 – IDEA Part B Section 611 Coordinated Early Intervention Services (CEIS)
- FIN 429 – IDEA Part Be Section 611 CEIS Mandatory
- FIN 430 – IDEA Part B Section 619 Center of Excellence Discretionary Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Ages 3-5
- FIN 431 – IDEA Part B Section 611 Schoolwide Title
- FIN 432 – IDEA Part B Section 611 Regional CSPD Discretionary
- FIN 446 – IDEA Part C Regional Centers of Excellence CSPD
- Intergovernmental Agreement, Ages 0-2
To receive the SFY 2026 estimated federal special education allocations at the end of August, the Identified Official with Authority (IOwA) will need to complete all the required information for each of the blue tabs in Central Data, i.e., District Entered Contacts, Risk Assessment, Assurances, etc.
Under the Program Assurances, they will need to select either “yes” or “no” for each of the finance codes they are eligible to apply for—they cannot be left blank. Once this is completed, they can sign off as the Legal Entity under the Assurances Summary tab, then run the Consistency Check under the Submit tab, and click the blue Submit to MDE button. The Central Data Collection tile should be in Approved status in MEGS by June 30 of each new fiscal year.
Substantially Approved
The local educational agency (LEA) may not obligate funds until the LEA has been fully approved or has received the status of being substantially approved. According to 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 76.708, the district is “substantially approved” when the district has completed the following two activities:
- Completed and submitted the paper application, including state and federal cover sheets, and the statement of assurances, to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Division of School Finance.
- Completed the steps above in MEGS.
When these two activities have been completed and received/approved by the Division of School Finance, the LEA has been substantially approved and may begin to obligate funds for that finance dimension.
Obligation Period
An obligation is a transaction that requires payment. The obligation period is the same as the number of months of grant availability. Obligations are booked in the fiscal year in which they occur.
If the LEA meets MDE requirements for substantial approval, the LEA may begin to obligate the funds once the state fiscal year begins on July 1. (See Section 3 State and Federal Application and Aid Approval of the reference guide for substantially approved information.) For SFY 2026, incurred expenditures prior to the date the LEA was substantially approved will need to be moved to a non-federal finance code. The LEA’s federal entitlement will not be reduced. Once substantially approved, the LEA can begin to obligate their federal funds.
Applications for Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS) FIN 425 and FIN 429
The Voluntary CEIS FIN 425 and Mandatory CEIS FIN 429 grant applications are now available in MEGS for submission. If the LEA received a Year 3 letter for SFY 2026, they would need to set aside the full 15% of Section 611 and 619 (FIN 419 and FIN 420 combined). LEAs submitting an application for Voluntary CEIS FIN 425 may elect up to the full 15 % set aside or a set dollar amount indicated on their federal cover sheet.
In MEGS, locate the CEIS grant application box and click Create an application for 2026. The CEIS grant application sections for the program and budget narratives are now embedded into MEGS to be completed; no paper applications will be accepted. Please make sure you are completing all of the required blue tabs within the grant application.
Example:
 Once all the program and budget sections are completed, click on the Submit tab, run the Consistency Check to process, and submit the application for review. The IOwA will need to log into MEGS and submit the grant application to MDE. The grant application will need to be in Submitted for Review status before MDE can begin to review. The same review/approval process by the Special Education Program Division and School Finance will still apply. Please submit the CEIS grant applications for Mandatory CEIS FIN 429 or Voluntary CEIS FIN 425 by June 30, 2025, in MEGS.
For Mandatory CEIS FIN 429, the program and budget narrative should align with the reason why the LEA was identified for significant disproportionality (i.e., student group and category of analysis). LEAs may utilize CEIS funds for students with and without disabilities as long as the LEA does not dedicate 100 % of the CEIS allocation on students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The plan must describe activities needed to implement the LEA’s CEIS Plan. LEAs voluntarily submitting CEIS applications without Year 1 or Year 2 letter should show alignment to a specific student group and category of analysis. Each component will need to be completed prior to approval. Incomplete applications will delay the approval process and access to these funds.
MDE will review the program and budget narrative. Any additional information requested by MDE will need to be submitted by October 31, 2025. Failure to do so will result in the LEA having their designated funds automatically returned to FIN 419 for Voluntary CEIS FIN 425.
LEAs will need to report all students without disabilities receiving CEIS services in the Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS) with a Special Education Evaluation Status (SEES) 8 by October 9, 2026, through MDE MARSS Webpage. MARSS Timelines Fall FY 2025 will be available in June and is located on the MDE website (https://education.mn.gov) > Districts, Schools and Educators > Business and Finance > School Finance > MARSS > Timelines.
LEAs under Finance Code (FIN) 429 Mandatory CEIS who choose to utilize CEIS funds on students with disabilities/IEPs will be expected to separately report these students using the MDE CEIS Student Data Tracker and upload into the FIN 429 Mandatory CEIS grant application in MEGS under the CEIS Student Data Reporting tab. The MDE CEIS Student Data Tracker (Special Education Student CEIS Reporting) is located on the CEIS webpage.
End of Year Report Link in MEGS: The LEA will also be required to submit End of Year Report data into the SFY 2026 FIN 425 voluntary CEIS and FIN 429 mandatory CEIS grant application dashboard tile in MEGS after June 30, 2026. This information helps assist MDE in submitting the required federal data to the US Department of Education.
LEAs identified as being in Mandatory CEIS are required to publicly report on the revision of policies, practices, and procedures if the change in policies is a result of significant disproportionality in identification, placement in restrictive settings, and/or discipline, including suspensions and expulsions of students with disabilities.
LEAs who have completed their public reporting requirements should submit a copy of the presentation or minutes from the school board meeting and/or appropriate public forum. These documents should be submitted via email to MDE.CEIS@state.mn.us by June 30, 2026.
MEGS Closeout Reports
LEAs need to make sure they are completing the closeout report in MEGS for each finance code they received an allocation for in SFY 2026. This will balance forward any unexpended funds into the next fiscal year. They will need to make sure UFARS and SEDRA are reconciled prior to making the final reimbursement requests in MEGS. When the reimbursement requests have been processed in SWIFT, LEAs will need to create the closeout report for each finance code. The closeout reports are located under the View Payments link on the dashboard tile in MEGS. Once completed, the IOwA will need to log into MEGS to submit the closeout reports to MDE. This will balance forward the unexpended funds into the next fiscal year. This action cannot be undone. If an overpayment exists, the LEA will need to create the overpayment correction form to submit during the closeout process.
For SFY 2025 forward, LEAs who have not submitted their closeout reports to MEGS will not be able to make reimbursement requests in the new fiscal year to ensure the oldest course code funds are drawn first.
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Number
All school districts, charters schools, nonprofits and other entities applying for federal funding are required to have a UEI number. This is a federal requirement. On April 4, 2022, the identifier changed from the DUNS number to the UEI number issued by SAM.gov. If you do not have an active entity registration on SAM.gov you may not be able to receive federal payments or apply for grants.
Where possible, MDE has updated the District and School Site Verification System with the SAM UEI identifier. However, this does not guarantee that your SAM.gov registration is currently active. If you have not done so already, please verify with your business office that your SAM.gov entity registration is active and that the associated SAM UEI is correctly listed on the MDE Organization Reference Glossary (MDE-ORG). You can review the SAM UEI on MDE-ORG by searching for your organization and then choosing the organization record (the identifier is located near the top, above “physical location”). If needed, the organization’s Site Verification Coordinator will need to log into the District and School Site Verification System to enter or correct the SAM UEI. To find the SAM UEI field within the District and School Site Verification System: from the Dashboard click on the organization record and on the next screen click “Update Organization Details.” The SAM UEI is located between the website URL field and business phone number fields within the District and School Site Verification system.
If you have questions on how to enter or verify your SAM UEI number in the MDE District and School Site Verification system, please contact Michelle Carey at 651-582-8287 or by email at mde.school-verify@state.mn.us.
If you need assistance to renew or receive your SAM UEI, or to activate an inactive registration, please contact SAM.gov Customer Service. Options to reach SAM.gov Customer Service can be found near the bottom of the Federal Service Desk webpage.
If you have any questions regarding the application, please send an email to the Special Education Funding and Data team.
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