October 5, 2011
To the Administrator Addressed:
Subject:  PEIMS Crisis Code Reporting for Students Displaced by Texas Wildfires

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has declared the recent Texas wildfires a state education-related crisis. Therefore, TEA is activating the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) Crisis Code for the 2011 – 2012 Fall, Summer, and Extended Year collections to identify students displaced by the wildfires in a designated county.

The Crisis Code information will enable TEA to identify students and school districts impacted by Texas wildfires.  This will allow TEA to accurately assess the repercussions on financial, accountability and monitoring requirements.TEA will also have the ability to respond to requests for student and district information as needed.

The PEIMS Crisis Code is reported on the PEIMS 100 Student Identification record and will apply to all students who were enrolled at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year and were subsequently displaced from their home as a result of a wildfire during this school year.  A displaced student is a student who was enrolled, or eligible for enrollment, in an area in which a wildfire causes the temporary or permanent displacement of that student.  Displacement as a result of a wildfire may cause a student to relocate within or across districts.

Displaced Student Example 1:  A student was enrolled in Bastrop ISD at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year, became displaced as a result of a wildfire, and enrolled in Austin ISD on September 6, 2011. 

Displaced Student Example 2:  A student was enrolled in Lake Travis ISD after the beginning of the 2011-12 school year, became displaced as a result of a wildfire, and changed campuses within Lake Travis ISD on September 7, 2011. 

Displaced Student Example 3: A student is enrolled in a campus located within a designated county affected by a wildfire and while the student remains at that campus, he/she was displaced as a result of the wildfire and was relocated to an alternate housing arrangement.

Students displaced as the result of a Texas wildfire must have been enrolled in a school district located in one of the following counties affected by a wildfire.  Districts will be notified in the event there is a need during the 2011-2012 school year for additional counties to be added to the table below. 

A PEIMS crisis code should not be submitted for students who were not displaced and who remain enrolled in a Texas public school in one of the Texas counties listed above. 

Displaced students enrolled and served by a school district or charter school as a result of being displaced by a Texas wildfire, should be reported in the district’s 2011 – 2012 Fall, Summer, and Extended Year PEIMS Submissions regardless of the As of Status Code that the student has been assigned. 

The PEIMS Crisis Code Table C178 has been updated to define code ‘03’ for Texas wildfires.  Please note that the Crisis Code may be left blank or given a code of ‘00’ on the 100 Student Identification record for students not displaced by a Texas wildfire. 

To the extent possible, districts should maintain documentation on each student identified with this crisis code. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact the Division of Statewide Education Data Initiatives at (512) 936-7346.  

Sincerely,

Robert Scott
Commissioner of Education