December 1, 2025, Federal Child Count
To: Directors of Special Education
From: Paul Ferrin, Supervisor, Division of School Finance
The special education child count data reporting process through the Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS) will begin in September. There are five MARSS submissions reporting deadlines: September 18, 2025, October 16, 2025, November 13, 2025, December 11, 2025, and January 6, 2026. After the final deadline in January, there is no appeal process for fall data. Please make federal special education child count a priority. We strongly encourage districts to report students receiving special education services by the initial reporting deadline to assure that all students who are eligible for and receiving special education services get counted. Child count reporting is final with fall data and not updated with year-end data.
Note: A child must meet all three of the criteria listed below and have the criteria in place in order to be counted:
- Have a valid Individualized Education Program (IEP/IFSP) that is less than one year old as of December 1.
- Have a current evaluation or re-evaluation that is less than three years old as of December 1.
- Be receiving special education and related services on December 1.
Your district’s special education child count is extracted from MARSS data. You can view a copy of the MARSS Reference Guide and Special Education Instructions on Reporting Child Count document on the Minnesota Department of Education’s website for additional information. Please read the instructions carefully. For more information on MARSS reporting timelines, please contact your MARSS coordinator.
After each deadline, Special Education Child Count Report #13 will be posted to the website for your review under Data Center > Data Reports and Analytics > School Finance Reports > Minnesota Funding Reports (MFR). MARSS Report 33 and MARSS 34 Last Load Date will be posted on the MARSS Web Edit System (WES) Statewide Report Page for the MARSS coordinators to access. Contact your MARSS coordinator to obtain a copy of these reports for your district to verify that resident students are included, particularly those students who are enrolled in another school district so that corrections and additions can be made by the next submission deadline date.
If you have any questions regarding special education child count, email the Special Education Funding and Data Team (mde.spedfunding@state.mn.us). For questions regarding MARSS reporting, send an email to MARSS (marss@state.mn.us).
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