SECTIONS 56300-56304 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 56300-56304

56300. A local educational agency shall actively and systematically
seek out all individuals with exceptional needs, from birth to 21
years of age, inclusive, including children not enrolled in public
school programs, who reside in a school district or are under the
jurisdiction of a special education local plan area or a county
office of education.

56301. (a) All children with disabilities residing in the state,
including children with disabilities who are homeless children or are
wards of the state and children with disabilities attending private,
including religious, elementary and secondary schools, regardless of
the severity of their disabilities, and who are in need of special
education and related services, shall be identified, located, and
assessed and a practical method is developed and implemented to
determine which children with disabilities are currently receiving
needed special education and related services as required by Section
1412(a)(3) and (10)(A)(ii) of Title 20 of the United States Code. A
child is not required to be classified by his or her disability so
long as each child who has a disability listed in Section 1401(3) of
Title 20 of the United States Code and who, by reason of that
disability, needs special education and related services as an
individual with exceptional needs defined in Section 56026.
(b) (1) In accordance with Section 300.111(c) of Title 34 of the
Code of Federal Regulations, the requirements of this section also
apply to highly mobile individuals with exceptional needs, including
migrant children, and children who are suspected of being an
individual with exceptional needs pursuant to Section 56026 and in
need of special education, even though they are advancing from grade
to grade.
(2) In accordance with Section 300.213 of Title 34 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, the local educational agency shall cooperate in
the efforts of the federal Secretary of Education, under Section 6398
of Title 20 of the United States Code, to ensure the linkage of
records pertaining to migratory children with disabilities for the
purpose of electronically exchanging, among other states, health and
educational information regarding those children.
(c) (1) The child find process shall ensure the equitable
participation in special education and related services of parentally
placed private schoolchildren with disabilities and an accurate
count of those children. Child find activities conducted by local
educational agencies, or where applicable, the department, shall be
similar to those activities undertaken for pupils in public schools.
(2) In accordance with Section 1412(a)(10)(A)(ii)(IV) of Title 20
of the United States Code, the cost of the child find activities in
private, including religious, elementary and secondary schools, may
not be considered in determining whether a local educational agency
has met its obligations under the proportionate funding provisions
for children enrolled in private, including religious, elementary and
secondary schools.
(3) The child find process described in paragraph (1) shall be
completed in a time period comparable to that for other pupils
attending public schools in the local educational agency.
(d) (1) Each special education local plan area shall establish
written policies and procedures pursuant to Section 56205 for use by
its constituent local agencies for a continuous child find system
that addresses the relationships among identification, screening,
referral, assessment, planning, implementation, review, and the
triennial assessment. The policies and procedures shall include, but
need not be limited to, written notification of all parents of their
rights under this chapter, and the procedure for initiating a
referral for assessment to identify individuals with exceptional
needs.
(2) In accordance with Section 1415(d)(1)(A) of Title 20 of the
United States Code, and Section 300.504(a) of Title 34 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, parents shall be given a copy of their rights
and procedural safeguards only one time a school year, except that a
copy also shall be given to the parents:
(A) Upon initial referral or parental request for assessment.
(B) Upon receipt of the first state complaint under Section
56500.2 in a school year.
(C) Upon receipt of the first due process hearing request under
Section 56502 in a school year.
(D) When a decision is made to make a removal that constitutes a
change of placement of an individual with exceptional needs because
of a violation of a code of pupil conduct in accordance with Section
300.530(h) of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(E) Upon request by a parent.
(3) A local educational agency may place a current copy of the
procedural safeguards notice on its Internet Web site, if such Web
site exists, pursuant to Section 1415(d)(1)(B) of Title 20 of the
United States Code.
(4) The contents of the procedural safeguards notice shall contain
the requirements listed in Section 1415(d)(2) of Title 20 of the
United States Code and Section 300.504(c) of Title 34 of the Code of
Federal Regulations.
(e) Child find data collected pursuant to this chapter, or
collected pursuant to a regulation or an interagency agreement, are
subject to the confidentiality requirements of Sections 300.611 to
300.627, inclusive, of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

56302. A local educational agency shall provide for the
identification and assessment of the exceptional needs of an
individual, and the planning of an instructional program to meet the
assessed needs. Identification procedures shall include systematic
methods of utilizing referrals of pupils from teachers, parents,
agencies, appropriate professional persons, and from other members of
the public. Identification procedures shall be coordinated with
schoolsite procedures for referral of pupils with needs that cannot
be met with modification of the regular instructional program.

56302.1. (a) Once a child has been referred for an initial
assessment to determine whether the child is an individual with
exceptional needs as defined in Section 56026 and to determine the
educational needs of the child, these determinations shall be made,
and an individualized education program meeting shall occur, within
60 days of receiving parental consent for the assessment in
accordance with subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of subsection (a)
of Section 1414 of Title 20 of the United States Code.
(b) The 60-day time period does not apply to a local educational
agency if either of the following occurs:
(1) A child enrolls in a school served by the local educational
agency after the relevant time period has commenced but prior to a
determination by his or her previous local educational agency of
whether the child is an individual with exceptional needs. The
exemption of this paragraph applies only if the subsequent local
educational agency is making sufficient progress to ensure a prompt
completion of the assessment, and the parent and subsequent local
educational agency agree to a specific date by which the assessment
shall be completed.
(2) The parent of a child repeatedly fails or refuses to produce
the child for the assessment.

56302.5. The term "assessment," as used in this chapter, shall have
the same meaning as the term "evaluation" in the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, as provided in Section 1414 of Title 20
of the United States Code.

56303. A pupil shall be referred for special educational
instruction and services only after the resources of the regular
education program have been considered and, where appropriate,
utilized.

56304. (a) The parents or guardians of a pupil who has been
referred for initial assessment, or of a pupil identified as an
individual with exceptional needs, shall be afforded an opportunity
to participate in meetings with respect to the identification,
assessment, and educational placement, pursuant to Section 56342.5
and subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 56341.5, of the pupil and
with respect to the provision of a free appropriate public education,
as provided in Section 300.501 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.
(b) In accordance with subsection (f) of Section 1414 of Title 20
of the United States Code, when conducting individualized education
program meetings and placement meetings pursuant to this part, and
when carrying out administrative matters under Chapter 5 (commencing
with Section 56500), including scheduling exchange of witness lists
and status conferences, the parent of an individual with exceptional
needs and a local educational agency may agree to use alternative
means of meeting participation, such as video conferences and
conference calls.