CALPADS Update Flash #307

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:      June 13, 2025

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #307

Education Data Collection System: Supplemental SUN Bucks Data Collection Update

The Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC) in the Education Data Collection System (EDCS) opened on June 9, 2025. The SSBC includes the following four supplemental data elements that identify students’ eligibility for 2025 SUN Bucks benefits:

• Date Universal Benefits Application (UBA) was received by LEA
• Date National School Lunch Program (NSLP) application was received by LEA
• Date student was directly certified by a local process
• Date benefits were extended to the student

The dates that UBA and NSLP applications were received by LEAs should only be submitted for approved applications. Additionally, any approved UBAs selected for verification should be submitted after they have been verified (refer to Flash #297 – Revised, emailed and dated June 12, 2025). Dates for all fields must be within the 2025 SUN Bucks eligibility period, July 1, 2024 – September 2, 2025; any dates outside of this range will trigger a fatal error.

LEAs should refer to Flash #297 – Revised, which includes detailed guidance on uploading SSBC data to EDCS that incorporates recently announced 2025 SUN Bucks verification requirements for UBAs. In particular, review the following sections of Flash #297 – Revised:

• Supplemental SUN Bucks Collection (SSBC) to the Education Data Collection System (EDCS)
• CALPADS and EDCS Pull Dates
• UBA Verification Requirements

LEAs are encouraged to follow the steps outlined in the UBA Verification Requirements section in Flash 297 – Revised entitled “What are best practices for meeting verification requirements for 2025 SUN Bucks?” This section provides steps for meeting UBA verification requirements and uploading as many UBAs to EDCS as possible each month so that students receive benefits in a timely manner.

Key Points to Remember for SSBC

• Process UBAs as they are received: As a best practice, LEAs should review UBAs as they are received so that approved applications can be included in the monthly file sent to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) for benefit issuance.
• Identify Other SSBC Data: Identify dates for NSLP applications, local direct certification, and benefits extension. The dates for NSLP applications should already be available, as most NSLP applications would have been submitted in the fall of 2024.
• SSBC files are Full Replacement: LEAs are reminded that the SSBC files submitted to EDCS are full replacement files. This means that every time LEAs upload data, all previous records in EDCS become inactive, and all records from the uploaded file become active. Therefore, it is important that each file uploaded includes all data for the 2025 SUN Bucks administration, including records previously uploaded.
• Review UBA Verification Requirements and Suggested Steps: Review the section in Flash #297 – Revised entitled “What are best practices for meeting verification requirements for 2025 SUN Bucks?” and develop a plan to meet verification requirements and ensure that data are uploaded by 5 p.mm on the specified EDCS data pull dates.
• EDCS Pull Dates: Flash #297 – Revised includes a table that specifies the dates that SSBC data will be pulled from EDCS and sent to the CDSS for benefits issuance. LEAs should upload as many records as possible by these pull dates to ensure that as many students as possible are provided to CDSS for benefits issuance.

How to Upload SSBC Data to EDCS

Instructions on how to upload SSBC data to EDCS have been posted and can be found on the CDE Education Data Collection System web page: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/edcs.asp

Other Resources

More information regarding 2025 SUN Bucks can be found in Flash #297 – Revised, which was emailed on June 12, 2025. (The revised version of Flash #297 will be posted soon online on the CDE CALPADS Communications page; in the interim, please refer to the Revised Flash #297 that was emailed on June 12 in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word format.)

Information regarding all 2024–25 EDCS collections can be found in Flash #301: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/calpadsupdflash301.asp.