To:	District Superintendents School Superintendents Charter School Principals	Date:	August 2005
From:	Martha P. Musser, Coordinator
Subject:	BEDS Online

All school districts, BOCES, and charter schools are required to submit the Fall 2005 BEDS District and BOCES Summary Forms and School Data Forms using the BEDS Online Internet application. This requirement for Fall 2005 and for future years is in keeping with the State Education Department’s goal of using technology to share information and provide services more efficiently. BEDS Online will provide the following benefits to users:

§ convenient access to past years' data on the Internet;

§ online edits that catch errors before forms are submitted to the Department; and

§ automatic calculation of totals.

Users familiar with the paper BEDS forms will find it simple to navigate BEDS Online. You can now view your Fall 2004 forms through the system. Those responsible for using BEDS Online should take a few minutes before BEDS day, October 6, to log on and browse through the forms to become familiar with system navigation and functionality. The BEDS Online User Manual provides detailed instructions for getting started and is available at: www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/bedsonline.html

To ensure security and confidentiality, BEDS Online users must have a registered user name and password. Usernames and passwords assigned last year will still be valid for the 2005-06 school year and will be mailed separately to the superintendent or chief school officer, who may request an additional user account for a designated BEDS Coordinator. Requests for additional user accounts must come either from the superintendent, other chief school officer, or the BEDS Coordinator. We urge you to limit the number of users in order to protect the security of your data and to advise the Department to delete users who should no longer have access to BEDS Online.

For security purposes, new user account requests must include the new user's 1) name, 2) phone number, 3) e-mail address, and 4) place of birth (city, town or village). New users will receive their username and initial password via e-mail. All users will be prompted by the system to change their password upon their initial login.

If additional user accounts are desired or for questions about BEDS Online, please contact Ron Danforth in the Office of Information and Reporting Services at (518) 474-7965 or send an email to emscbedsonline@mail.nysed.gov.

cc: BEDS Coordinator