FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
     
    S
      
    TATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
     
    T. WILLARD FAIR,
    Chairman
    Members
    DONNA G. CALLAWAY
    DR. AKSHAY DESAI
    ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ
    PHOEBE RAULERSON
    KATHLEEN SHANAHAN
    LINDA K. TAYLOR
     
    Dr. Eric J. Smith
    Commissioner of Education
      
     
      
     
      
     
     
     
     
     
    MEMORANDUM
     
    TO: District Superintendents
     
    FROM: Dr. Eric J. Smith, Commissioner
     
    DATE: February 26, 2008
     
    SUBJECT: Sunshine Connections and Portal to Exceptional Education Resources (PEER)
    Web System
     
    The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on the Sunshine Connections and
    Portal to Exceptional Education Resources (PEER) projects.
     
    Section 1003.576, Florida Statutes, states that “The Department of Education must develop and
    have an operating electronic IEP [individual educational plan] system in place for potential
    statewide use. The statewide system shall be developed collaboratively with school districts and
    must include input from school districts currently developing or operating electronic IEP
    systems.” The statute does not mandate district participation in the statewide system; districts
    may continue to use purchased systems or district-developed systems if they so choose.
     
    The PEER system under development by the Department of Education (DOE) requires no data
    management fees, maintenance fees, or design costs to districts and will be continually updated
    to align with federal and state requirements, and ultimately will provide a useful and cost-
    effective tool for districts to use in implementing their exceptional student education (ESE)
    programs.
     
    The PEER system is designed to comply with the statutory requirements related to IEPs, while
    also providing districts with the tools needed to address a much wider range of student services
    and exceptional education procedures. The application currently supports the development of
    Sunshine Connections and PEER Web System IEPs, including parent notices and progress
    reports. Matrix of services documents, services plans, and educational plans are under
    development, as well as intervention, referral, evaluation, and eligibility procedures. In addition,
     
    325 W. GAINES STREET • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0505 • www.fldoe.org
     

    Sunshine Connections and Portal to Exceptional
    Education Resources (PEER) Web System
    February 26, 2008
    Page 2
     
    the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services is finalizing the development of a
    Web-based Medicaid Tracking System (MTS) that will be available to districts through the same
    Sunshine Connections portal as PEER. The Web-based MTS will allow service providers such as
    therapists to easily check Medicaid eligibility and bill Medicaid for direct services, thus reducing
    the need for districts to utilize administrative personnel to accomplish this task.
     
    In December 2007, the Sunshine Connections and PEER systems were deployed in the P.K.
    Yonge Developmental Research Laboratory School at the University of Florida and Gulf County
    School District. Based on feedback from those two districts, enhancements were made to the
    flexible authorization system (FAS) tool used by district personnel to assign authorization to
    local users (i.e., “build” IEP teams for individual students). This new version, FAS 1.5, has been
    tested, and deployment in seven additional districts is scheduled in the next four to six weeks.
     
    If you have any questions regarding PEER, please contact Bambi J. Lockman, Chief, or Kim
    Komisar, Program Director, at 850-245-0476 or via e-mail at Bambi.Lockman@fldoe.org or
    Kim.Komisar@fldoe.org. For questions regarding MTS, please contact Susan Douglas, Medicaid
    Consultant, at 850-922-3727 or via e-mail at sdouglas@coedu.usf.edu. For questions regarding
    Sunshine Connections, please contact Greg Giese, Systems Architect, at 850-245-9310 or via e-
    mail at Greg.Giese@fldoe.org.
     
    cc: Senator Stephen Wise
    MIS Directors
    ESE Directors
    Student Services Directors
    Frances Haithcock
    Jay Pfeiffer
    Pam Smith
    Jeff Sellers
    Bill Wyman
    Greg Giese
    Bambi J. Lockman
    Kim Komisar
    Chuck Lynd
    Bettye Hyle
    Susan Douglas

    Back to top