MARSS Deadlines
EOY FY26 Reporting
Submission:
Final data due. ONLY electronic appeal Web Files will be accepted after this date.
Thursday, October 1st: Files due to RMIC
Thursday, October 8th: Files due to MDE
Monday, October 12th through Thursday, November 5th: Electronic appeal file process, if needed. Records that cause cross-district errors will prevent the entire file from submission.
FALL FY27 Reporting
Used for Child Count, Compensatory Revenue, and verification of Charter School ADM estimates.
Thursday, October 8th: Files due to RMIC
Thursday, October 15th: Files due to MDE
** If you have Region 1 upload your files, please submit them by the due to RMIC date. This will ensure there is time to run an edit, send and receive a release, and upload to MDE. Unfortunately if you wait until the MDE deadline we are unable to guarantee your files will be uploaded in time.
Mark Your Calendar
Tuesday, October 13th @ 1:00 pm: Synergy User Group Meeting hosted by Kari Johnson at MDE. You can now register for these webinars on the MDE Calendar. Please pass this information on to others that would benefit from attending. Click Here to register.
*The registration deadline is October 12th
Wednesday, October 28th @ 2:00pm: Edupoint State Reporting call. A link for the call will be sent out via email closer to the date.
Thursday, October 1st: 2025-26 MCCC data is due to MDE.
Thursday, October 1st: 2025-26 Carl Perkins P-File is due to MDE.
Wednesday October 22nd & Thursday October 23rd: Region 1 Synergy Business Conference. Region 1 support will be limited these days.
Fall MARSS Training Series:
MDE is hosting their Fall MARSS Training Series starting in August. Trainings go through mid-October. If you are newer to the MARSS role in your district, please register for as many as you are able. These trainings are important to attend, even for veteran MARSS Coordinators. Register by clicking on the links below.
October 2 10:00-11:30: 10 MARSS Summer Leavers, Dropouts and Grads, Oh My
October 6 10:00-11:30: 11 MARSS Fall Local MARSS Reports
October 13 10:00-11:30: 12 MARSS Fall Statewide MARSS Reports
New MARSS Status End Code for 26/27
MDE has announced that Status End Code 09 Graduated by Meeting Objectives of IEP will be available to use for FY2027. Region 1 has added this code for districts. The description of Status End Code 09 in the MARSS Data Elements will read:
9 Graduated by Meeting Objectives of IEP. Use Status End Code 09 when
- a special education student graduates by meeting the objectives of their IEP, as identified in Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.04 .
These students are eligible to receive ongoing special education and related services and will continue to generate aid until they:
- Meet State standards for graduation by completing the requirements described in Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.24 (report these students with Status End Code 08: Graduated);
- are determined to be no longer eligible for special education and related services following a reevaluation (report these students with the appropriate Status End Code 06 or 07); their parent/guardian (or in the case of an adult student without a legal guardian the student themselves) revoke consent for the provision of special education and related services in writing (report these students with the appropriate Status End Code 06 or 07);
- Turn 22 years old (report these students with the appropriate Status End Code 06 or 07).
Immunization Dates
Remind your School Nurses that Synergy can import dates from MIIC using the AISR Bulk Query functionality. Documentation can be found on the Help screen under Resources > Health > MIIC/AISR Import. Annual Immunization Status Reporting is due December 1st each year.
MCCC Data
With the most recent Synergy update, Direct Pay Grades should be syncing. If you have not done so already this week, sync 16 – Grades at your school with Direct Pay records today!
You should have already gone through the MCCC Data Verification Checklist at this point. The checklist can be found in the Ed-Fi Documentation under Data Collection: MCCC.
Direct Admissions
Direct Admissions can now be set up in Synergy. Follow along with our new Direct Admissions guide out in Help under Resources.
Student Needs Early Ed Program Hours Override
With the most recent Synergy update, you can now override Attendance and Membership values for Early Ed programs on Student Needs for Ed-Fi data. This change ONLY applies for the MARSS reported Student Needs EE program records: ECSE and VPK.
MDE pulls attendance and membership from the program record first. If the program record is blank, it pulls from enrollment. The problem comes up when these enrollments overlap with another enrollment. This can cause incorrect attendance and membership reporting for these grade levels.
To correct this, you can enter the attendance and membership on the program record. Or to save you time, MDE will look at the associated enrollment by date when zeros are reported on the program.
Region 1 and Kari Johnson recommend entering ‘0’ for Attendance and Membership on the ECSE and VPK Student Needs records. This will force MDE to use the attendance and membership values on the enrollment as expected.
Ed-Fi Myths Debunked
Myth: If something does not seem right in the Ed-Fi data, syncing again will always clear it up.
FALSE: Often, syncing again will correct most discrepancies in Ed-Fi data, but this is not always the case. Think of your data with a string attached between Synergy and MDE. If that string is cut, Synergy cannot tell MDE what to do with it. This cut in the string causes orphan records that remain in the ODS at MDE without any Synergy connection for updates. These orphan records still in the ODS will show up in your reports and can cause you issues.
In the most ideal situation, when you sync, a Clean Up process runs to remove any records that should no longer be there. If your sync has any errors, the Clean Up process does not run. Syncing error free data is your best option to prevent orphan records. We know this is the real world though, and there may be errors, so then what?
The Ed-Fi Portal screen in Synergy allows us, and you, to find and remove orphan records. In extreme cases, we can even remove all data (please don’t try this at home). Let us know when you are ready to dive into your Ed-Fi data at this level, and we will get you the directions. In the meantime, we are happy to help remove these orphan records for you!