(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.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 454, Sec. 14. Effective October 10, 2007.)