Education Across the States · State Guides
Special education in California, step by step — California’s rules, California’s dates
Our first state publication: four complete guides to special education in California — one for parents navigating an IEP, one for parents navigating a Section 504 plan, one for the educators who write and run the plans, and one for the administrators accountable for all of it. Every timeline, address, and date in them is California’s own, checked against the state’s published documents.
The full guides are free. Subscribe and we’ll email them to you — all four guides, in English and Spanish, with the fill-in letters. Below is what’s inside each one.
What it is. A complete, step-by-step walk through special education in California — from the first suspicion that your child needs help, through the evaluation, the IEP itself, and the full ladder of what to do when the school says no. Written in plain language for a parent reading at 11 PM.
Who it's for. California parents and guardians of children ages 3–21 — whether you're asking for a first evaluation, preparing for an annual review, or already in a dispute.
What's inside. - The basics: FAPE, Child Find, and how California's SELPA system works - Getting evaluated: the written request, the assessment plan, and the evaluation itself - Developing the IEP: your rights at the table, what the document must contain, transition planning, and how consent works - Staying involved: annual reviews, reevaluations, records, and California's free parent centers - Rights and disputes: mediation and ADR, the CDE state complaint, due process at OAH, discipline protections, private-placement notice rules, and the age-18 transfer of rights - Free downloads, including an evaluation request letter and an independent evaluation (IEE) request letter
What's California-specific about it. California's rules are often stronger than the federal defaults national guides describe — and this guide uses California's: a written assessment plan within 15 days of your request; one single 60-day clock from your consent to a finished evaluation and a written IEP; your child's records in your hands within 5 business days; and transition planning that starts when your child starts high school, not at 16. It also corrects a myth national templates spread: there is no "5-day deadline" for an independent evaluation — the real standard is without unnecessary delay, and the guide shows you how to use it.
What it is. A step-by-step guide to Section 504 plans — eligibility, evaluation, writing a plan that actually gets implemented, and every dispute route a 504 family really has.
Who it's for. Parents of students whose disabilities call for accommodations rather than specialized instruction — ADHD, anxiety, diabetes, asthma, allergies, dyslexia, and many more — and parents deciding between a 504 plan and an IEP.
What's inside. - The basics: who qualifies (a wider door than the IEP), and an honest IEP-vs-504 comparison - Getting evaluated: the written request, what a lawful 504 evaluation must include - Developing the plan: what a strong plan names, placement rules, and making implementation happen in real classrooms - Staying involved: reviews, reevaluation, and records - Rights and disputes: discipline done correctly, the district hearing, California's UCP discrimination complaint, the federal OCR complaint, and retaliation protections
What's California-specific about it. This guide tells you the thing other guides won't: California has no state 504 system — no state timelines, no state 504 office — and it shows you exactly what California does add, including the Uniform Complaint Procedures discrimination route (file within 6 months, district report in 60 days, appeal to the state within 30). It also fixes the most common 504 error in print: there is no manifestation determination review in 504 — the real protection is reevaluation before a significant change in placement, and the guide explains how to invoke it before a long suspension takes effect.
What it is. A practitioner playbook organized by your actual workflow — identify, evaluate, write, implement, monitor, meet — with California's forms discipline and timelines at every stage.
Who it's for. Case managers, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, special education teachers, 504 coordinators, counselors, and site administrators in California schools.
What's inside. - Identify: Child Find duties and why intervention tiers can't gate an evaluation - Evaluate: the assessment-plan mechanics and California's single 60-day clock, IEE handling, reevaluation consent documentation - Write: IEP content that holds up, prior written notice discipline, and 504 plans specific enough to implement - Implement: service delivery as written, informing every teacher, contemporaneous service logs, and the resource specialist caseload cap (28, by statute) - Monitor: progress reporting with data, annual and triennial cycles — and how your entries become your LEA's state determination - Meet: running a meeting that survives scrutiny, family recording rights, and the five documentation habits that make an IEP defensible at OAH
What's California-specific about it. Every clock is California's: the 15-day assessment plan, 60 days consent-to-IEP, 5 business days for records, 24-hour recording notice, transition at high school entry under AB 438. It also puts the state's real dispute volume on the table — 3,762 OAH filings in nine months — so documentation habits are calibrated to the world as it is, not as we wish it were.
What it is. The leadership playbook for California special education compliance: the dated calendar, the monitoring system, the dispute map, staffing, corrective action, and a verify-it-yourself checklist.
Who it's for. Superintendents, assistant superintendents, special education directors, SELPA administrators, and principals with compliance responsibility.
What's inside. - The compliance calendar — California's own dated obligations for 2026-27, each with its recurring rule and its published source, plus the rolling per-student clocks in a separate table - State monitoring and indicators: the full SPP/APR indicator set as CDE publishes it, which indicators are pass/fail compliance measures, Annual Determination Letters, and Compliance Improvement Monitoring - The dispute exposure map: state complaints, mediation/ADR, due process, and the discrimination routes — with forums, clocks, and statewide volumes - Staffing and caseload: the statutory resource-specialist cap and how to defend the ratios the state leaves to you - Corrective action: how findings actually close - Verify, don't assume: a 12-point leadership checklist keyed to the calendar
What's California-specific about it. The calendar is the headline: CALPADS Census Day (October 7, 2026), the December 11, 2026 Fall 1 certification carrying your special education census, Fall 2 certification February 26, 2027 with no amendment window, the June 30 SELPA Local Plan deadline, and EOY certifications in July and August 2027 — real dates from the state's own published documents, not generic federal rhythms. It also shows you where your determination letter really comes from: your own CALPADS data, including the state's timeline-compliance analysis of your late annual reviews and triennials.
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