ms sql thinks my code sucks.

query.php

<?php /** api endpoint - schedules **/
include("includes/sqlsrv.php");
header('Content-Type: application/json, charset=UTF-8');

$conn = sqlsrv_connect( $server_name, $connection_info); /* open the connection */
/* catch and display any connection error message */
if( $conn === false ) {
     echo '<p>Unable to connect.</p>';
     die( print_r( sqlsrv_errors(), true));
}

$request_payload = file_get_contents('php://input');
$payloads = json_decode($request_payload, true);

$scheduleVar = $payloads["schedule"];
$agencyVar = $payloads["agency"];

function escapeVars($str){
  $str = mb_convert_encoding($str, 'UTF-8', 'UTF-8');
  $str = htmlentities($str, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');
  $str = (int)$str;
  return $str;
};
$scheduleVar = escapeVars($scheduleVar);
$agencyVar = escapeVars($agencyVar);


$tsql_get_schedules = "SELECT DISTINCT SchedNum, SchedTitle FROM RM3_Schedules WHERE FK_SCHEDULE_TYPE_ID = ${agencyVar} OR FK_AGENCY_LOCALITY_ID = ${scheduleVar} ORDER BY SchedTitle;";
$stmt_tsql_get_schedules = sqlsrv_query($conn, $tsql_get_schedules); /* submit query to open connection */
if( !$stmt_tsql_get_schedules ) {
     echo '<p>Error executing <code>get_schedules</code> query.</p>'; /* catch/display/query error message */
     echo '<p>0 schedule is: '.$scheduleVar.', and 1 agency is: '.$agencyVar.'</p>';
     echo '<p>0 schedule type is: '.gettype($scheduleVar).', and 1 agency type is: '.gettype($agencyVar).'</p>';
     die( print_r( sqlsrv_errors(), true));
}
/* iterate through table rows populating the array */
do {
  while ($row = sqlsrv_fetch_array($stmt_tsql_get_schedules, SQLSRV_FETCH_ASSOC)) {
          $jsonSchedules[] = $row;
  }
} while ( sqlsrv_next_result($stmt_tsql_get_schedules) );
$jsonEchoSchedules = json_encode($jsonSchedules);
echo $jsonEchoSchedules;

sqlsrv_free_stmt( $stmt_tsql_get_schedules); /* free up $stmt's resources */
sqlsrv_close( $conn); /* close $conn and release associated $conn resources */