SB373 - Special education: nonpublic, nonsectarian schools or agencies.

Senate Bill No. 373 CHAPTER 579 An act to amend Sections 49001, 56301, 56366.1, 56366.4, 56366.12, and 56836.20 of the Education Code, relating to special education. [ Approved by Governor October 10, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 10, 2025. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 373, Grove. Special education: nonpublic, nonsectarian schools or agencies. (1) Existing law requires local educational agencies to identify, locate, and assess individuals with exceptional needs and to provide those pupils with a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, with special education and related services as reflected in an individualized education program. Existing law requires, in accordance with specified federal laws, parents to be given a copy of their rights and procedural safeguards, as specified. This bill would require pupils to also be given a copy of their rights and procedural safeguards. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law permits, under certain circumstances, contracts to be entered into for the provision of special education and related services by nonpublic, nonsectarian schools or agencies, as defined. Existing law authorizes a master contract for special education and related services provided by a nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency only if the school or agency has been certified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction as meeting specified standards relating to special education and related services and facilities for individuals with exceptional needs. Existing law requires, before certification, the Superintendent to conduct an onsite review of the facility and program for which the applicant seeks certification, as specified. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 school year, would require the Superintendent, before certifying a nonpublic, nonsectarian school located outside of California, to take additional actions, including, among other things, to review policies on restraint and seclusion to evaluate consistency with California laws. The bill would require, during an onsite review of a nonpublic, nonsectarian school located outside of California, the Superintendent to interview all pupils with individualized education programs to discuss progress and address any concerns respecting any limitations due to the pupils’ disabilities, as specified. The bill would require the Superintendent, by July 1, 2026, to develop a tool for purposes of the interviews, as provided, and would require the tool to be made available to local educational agencies for their own use, which the bill would authorize. Existing law requires a nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency that seeks certification to file an application with the Superintendent on forms provided by the State Department of Education, and to include specified information on the application. This bill would add assurances of compliance with specified laws relating to behavioral interventions to be included in that required information on the application. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2020–21 school year, a local educational agency that enters into a master contract with a nonpublic, nonsectarian school to conduct at least one onsite monitoring visit during each school year to the nonpublic, nonsectarian school at which the local educational agency has a pupil attending and with which it maintains a master contract. Existing law requires the monitoring visit to include, among other things, an observation of the pupil during instruction and a walkthrough of the facility. Existing law requires the local educational agency to report the findings resulting from the monitoring visit to the department within 60 calendar days of the onsite visit. Existing law requires, before June 30, 2020, the department to, with input from special education local plan area administrators, create and publish criteria for reporting this information to the department. This bill would require the monitoring visit to include, for a pupil placed in a nonpublic, nonsectarian school located outside of California, an in-person interview with the pupil, in a manner consistent with the pupil’s individualized education program, to evaluate the pupil’s health and safety. The bill would require the local educational agency to report the findings resulting from the monitoring visit to the department using a specified form developed and published by the department on its internet website. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, the department to update the form to require, for nonpublic, nonsectarian schools located outside of California, additional findings to be reported to the department. The bill would also require the local educational agency to conduct a quarterly check-in with a pupil attending the nonpublic, nonsectarian school located outside of California through an unmonitored telephone call in a manner consistent with the pupil’s individualized education program. Existing law requires the Superintendent to make a determination on an application for certification within 120 days of receipt of the application and to certify, conditionally certify, or deny certification to the applicant. If certification is denied, existing law requires the Superintendent to provide reasons for the denial. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 school year, would require, for a nonpublic, nonsectarian school located outside of California, the Superintendent to make available, upon request from a local educational agency or special education local plan area, specified information and documentation relating to certification, if available. The bill would require a local educational agency to disclose the information received, if available, to the parent or guardian at the time the individualized education program team considers placement of the pupil in a nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a nonpublic, nonsectarian school to ensure private and confidential communication between a pupil of the nonpublic, nonsectarian school and members of the pupil’s individualized education program team, at the pupil’s discretion. This bill would explicitly require a nonpublic, nonsectarian school to ensure privacy and confidentiality of telecommunication in this circumstance and would require a nonpublic, nonsectarian school to also ensure private and confidential communication between a pupil and the department’s Constituent Services Office. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Accountability for Placements in Education Act. SEC. 2. Section 49001 of the Education Code is amended to read: 49001. (a) For the purposes of this section, “corporal punishment” means the willful infliction of, or willfully causing the infliction of, physical pain on a pupil. An amount of force that is reasonable and necessary for a person employed by or engaged in a public school to quell a disturbance threatening physical injury to persons or damage to property, for purposes of self-defense, or to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects within the control of the pupil, is not and shall not be construed to be corporal punishment within the meaning and intent of this section. Physical pain or discomfort caused by athletic competition or other such recreational activity, voluntarily engaged in by the pupil, is not and shall not be construed to be corporal punishment within the meaning and intent of this section. (b) No person employed by or engaged in a public school shall inflict, or cause to be inflicted corporal punishment upon a pupil. Every resolution, bylaw, rule, ordinance, or other act or authority permitting or authorizing the infliction of corporal punishment upon a pupil attending a public school is void and unenforceable. (c) For purposes of this section, “public school” includes a school operated by a school district or a county office of education, a charter school, a nonpublic, nonsectarian school, and a state special school for the blind or the deaf. SEC. 3. Section 56301 of the Education Code is amended to read: 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 Sections 1412(a)(3) and 1412(a)(10)(A)(ii) of Title 20 of the United States Code. A child is not required to be classified by their 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 to 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 and pupils shall be given a copy of their rights and procedural safeguards once every school year and at all of the following times: (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 or pupil. (3) A local educational agency may place a current copy of the procedural safeguards notice on its internet website, if the internet website 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 300.610 to 300.627, inclusive, of Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations. SEC. 4. Section 56366.1 of the Education Code is amended to read: 56366.1. (a) A nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency that seeks certification shall file an application with the Superintendent on forms provided by the department, and shall include all of the following information on the application: (1) A description of the special education and designated instruction and services provided to individuals with exceptional needs if the application is for nonpublic, nonsectarian school certification. (2) A description of the designated instruction and services provided to individuals with exceptional needs if the application is for nonpublic, nonsectarian agency certification. (3) A list of appropriately qualified staff, a description of the credential, license, or registration that qualifies each staff member rendering special education or designated instruction and services to do so, and copies of their credentials, licenses, or certificates of registration with the appropriate state or national organization that has established standards for the service re [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]