September 21, 2026

Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and Special Education Local Plan Area Directors:

California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
2026–27 Annual Back-to-School Letter

This letter kicks off the 2026–27 data collection season for the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS).

We would like to congratulate Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs) for successfully certifying CALPADS 2025−26 submissions by the deadlines. The California Department of Education (CDE) acknowledges the hard work that LEAs/SELPAs and their staff dedicate to submitting accurate data by the CALPADS certification deadlines.

Critical Uses of CALPADS Data

CALPADS data are essential for various functions critical to LEAs and the state.

The data certified in the Fall 1 submission are used to determine LEAs’ funding under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and other funding determinations.

Certified Fall 2 data are provided to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to monitor that certificated staff are appropriately credentialed/authorized for their assignments.

End-of-Year (EOY) data are used to calculate indicators on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard) and monitor services for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

CALPADS data are used to meet federal reporting requirements and are submitted to the United States Department of Education through the EDFacts initiative and the Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR).

CALPADS data also support key operational functions such as registering students for statewide assessments, identifying students as English learners, determining students who are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals and SUN Bucks benefits, and identifying migrant students and students in foster care.

Updates to CALPADS Data Submission Support

Superintendents, charter school administrators, and SELPA directors are responsible for ensuring the timely submission and accuracy of CALPADS data. This includes establishing and maintaining the policies, procedures, staffing, and resources necessary to support ongoing CALPADS data submission and to review and certify data by all published deadlines.

The 2026–27 State Budget revised the classification of support related to CALPADS data submission. Under the new requirements established in the 2026–27 State Budget, this support category has shifted from Differentiated Assistance (DA) to Technical Assistance (TA). The CDE is required to annually publish information on LEAs identified as eligible for this support and will do so with the release of the 2026 California School Dashboard on October 15, 2026. More detailed information is forthcoming and will be posted on the CDE’s website.

Work Collaboratively to Support Successful Data Reporting

County and district superintendents, charter school administrators, and SELPA directors can continue to support successful data reporting and compliance efforts by:

• Establishing regular meetings for department leads to collectively review data needs, reporting requirements, concerns, and upcoming deadlines. Planning and coordinating key activities for the school year in advance, including major reporting windows, certification deadlines, audits, and program monitoring activities.
• Reviewing annual timelines across departments to identify competing priorities and workload impacts before critical deadlines occur. Reviewing roles and responsibilities, so that staff understand expectations and dependencies across departments. Reviewing guidance, procedures, and reference materials to support consistent processes and accurate reporting.
• Facilitating collaboration among departments such as:
  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Student Programs (e.g., English Language, Expanded Learning, etc.)
    • Special Education
    • Student Services
    • Human Resources
    • Fiscal Services
    • Information Technology
    • Data and Assessment
• Ensuring that staff have access to applicable training, resources, and technical assistance needed to complete reporting requirements successfully. Monitoring progress throughout the year, and addressing issues proactively to reduce reporting errors, improve data quality, and support timely completion of state and local requirements.
• Promoting a culture of shared responsibility and accountability where data quality and reporting success are recognized as responsibilities that span multiple departments rather than a single department.

Submission Deadlines

The 2026−27 submission deadlines are published on the CDE CALPADS Calendar web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sp/cl/rptcalendar.asp. Executive leadership should be aware that the EOY submissions, which provide the majority of the data used to determine Dashboard indicators, have two separate deadlines. The chronic absenteeism, student incident (suspensions, expulsions, incidents of restraint and seclusion), and special education data must be certified by July 16, 2027, to accommodate the release of the 2027 Dashboard, which is statutorily required to be released by October 15, 2027. The July 16, 2027 deadline may be challenging for staff, especially for schools that end in June. LEAs should plan accordingly by completing as much work as possible before the end of the school year and ensuring remaining tasks are completed by the deadline. The data used for the Graduation Rate Indicator and College/Career Indicator (CCI) on the Dashboard must be certified by August 16, 2027, which follows the August 15 graduate cutoff date to report students who graduate during the summer.

Multifactor Authentication for CALPADS Users

In keeping with best practices for data security, CALPADS transitioned to a new user authentication system in March 2026 that supports Multifactor Authentication (MFA). Beginning September 15, 2026, MFA is now required for all users when logging in to the CALPADS system.

In Summary

Thank you in advance for your efforts in submitting quality and timely data to the CDE.
We greatly appreciate the support of your staff, particularly LEA CALPADS Administrators and their teams, whose work is vital to many critical functions. Keeping CALPADS updated with student enrollments/exits on an ongoing basis, and certifying accurate data by the deadlines, is essential, as this information is used for many mission critical functions and high-stakes purposes. Please remember that there is no opportunity for LEAs to revise certified data after the final submission deadlines and after the announced dates that data will be pulled for accountability, monitoring, and reporting purposes.

If you have any questions about this letter, please contact the CALPADS Office by email at calpads@cde.ca.gov.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Liberty Van Natten, Director
Education Data Management Division