[CA] CALPADS EOY Submission Tips

CALPADS Update Flash #306 shared important guidance for the 2024–25 CALPADS EOY submission cycle. Although these deadlines have passed, the update still offers useful lessons about certification order, cross-team review, and data consistency.

CDE has since changed the EOY submission structure. Therefore, LEAs should use the current CDE CALPADS calendar and reporting guidance for active deadlines.

2024–25 CALPADS EOY Submission Deadlines

For the 2024–25 reporting cycle, LEAs followed these milestones:

LEAs needed to upload final files at least one day before the amendment deadline. That buffer gave CALPADS time to process revisions before certification closed.

Why EOY 3 Came First

Flash #306 advised LEAs to certify EOY 3 before EOY 1, EOY 2, or EOY 4. EOY 3 often included final enrollment, exit, demographic, and program updates.

If a team certified another submission first, later EOY 3 changes could create mismatched data. In particular, early EOY 4 certification could affect special education reporting.

For example, Reports 16.22 and 16.23 might not have reflected all student enrollment and exit data. As a result, LEAs needed to finalize EOY 3 first and then certify EOY 4 soon afterward.

This remains a useful school data reporting practice: finalize the records that feed other reports before approving downstream data.

Confirm Schoolwide Program Status in CARS

Title I, Part A schools needed the correct status in the Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS).

• Schoolwide Program (SWP) schools needed an approved Notification of Authorization of Schoolwide Program form in CARS.
• Targeted Assistance Schools (TAS) needed to submit student program records with Education Program Code 122 in CALPADS.

CARS sent SWP and TAS statuses to CALPADS each night. Therefore, if CARS did not identify a school as SWP, CALPADS treated it as a TAS school.

That mismatch could trigger fatal error CERT097 and prevent EOY 2 certification. CALPADS administrators needed to work with their Title I coordinators early rather than wait until the final days of the window.

Review Direct Certification Changes Before Certifying

Starting July 1, 2025, CDE added a secondary Direct Certification match using CalFresh and CalWORKs participation data from the California Department of Social Services.

The new match could increase socioeconomically disadvantaged student counts on EOY certification reports. CALPADS updated those reports automatically.

Therefore, LEAs that certified before the July match needed to review their reports again. If the new data changed reported counts, the LEA could decide whether to decertify and recertify.

A Better End-of-Year Review Process

Strong EOY reporting depends on more than resolving errors. It requires an organized review process across the teams that own the data.

Before certification, LEAs should:

• Confirm the current submission calendar and certification requirements.
• Set an internal deadline ahead of CDE’s no-error milestone.
• Finalize enrollment, exit, and demographic records before reviewing dependent reports.
• Coordinate with Title I, special education, program, and data staff.
• Review reports again after system updates or new data matches.
• Document who reviewed each report and who approves certification.

These steps help teams catch issues before a deadline turns them into a correction project.

Use Current Guidance for Current Submissions

The dates, EOY 1–4 labels, and procedures in Flash #306 apply only to the 2024–25 cycle. For current reporting, always confirm the active CALPADS calendar and guidance before planning your certification work.

Read the original CALPADS Update Flash #306 for the full historical notice.

Need a second set of eyes on complex reporting timelines or certification reports? MeasureED provides CALPADS support services to help LEAs build dependable reporting processes and resolve data issues before deadlines.