California's special-education rules

Full state checks

Federal IDEA law is the floor. Here's what California adds on top — every rule cited to its source and versioned in our knowledge base.

Your full review checks these 6 California rules alongside all 23 federal IDEA rules.

Timelines & deadlines

Cal. Ed. Code §56043

California publishes one list of all the special-education deadlines that apply to your child. When a school says "these things take time," the real answer is: the time is written into state law, with specific day counts.

Cal. Ed. Code §56321(a)

In California, after you request an evaluation, the school has 15 days to hand you a written assessment plan describing exactly what they'll test. Then you get at least 15 days to review and sign it.

Cal. Ed. Code §56344(a)

Once you sign the assessment plan in California, the school has 60 days to finish the evaluation AND hold the IEP meeting — both, not just the testing.

Cal. Ed. Code §56343.5

In California you can request an IEP meeting in writing at any time — and the school must hold it within 30 days. You don't have to wait for the annual review to fix a plan that isn't working.

Meetings & procedure

Cal. Ed. Code §56329(b)

California mirrors the federal rule: if you disagree with the district's assessment, you can ask for an independent one at district expense — and the district's only way to refuse is to defend its assessment at a hearing.

Goals & IEP content

Cal. Ed. Code §56345

California's IEP checklist mirrors the federal one and adds state items — importantly, if your child is learning English, the goals and services must be linguistically appropriate, written with the child's language in mind.

Every review also checks the full federal IDEA rules — the floor for every state, everywhere.

IEP Amigo provides educational information, not legal advice or representation.