Providing a high-quality and individualized education to each student with a disability is one of the most demanding and dynamic aspects of education. Developing and maintaining special education-related policies that are legally compliant and effectively implemented allows local educational agencies to best serve students and protect themselves from liability.

Four recent pieces of legislation impact policies related to students with disabilities:

• Postsecondary goals and transition services: Assembly Bill 438 (2024) requires an individualized education program (IEP) to include postsecondary goals and transition services, if determined appropriate by a student’s IEP team, beginning when a student with disabilities starts high school and not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the student is 16 years of age. Prior law required an IEP to include postsecondary goals and transition services to be in effect not later than the first IEP to be in effect when the student is 16 years of age, or younger if determined appropriate by the IEP team. Research identified in the bill’s legislative history suggests that when the IEP begins planning to prepare the student for adulthood at an earlier age, the student will be more likely to be employed, earn more wages and require fewer costly services in the long run.
• Prohibition against prone restraint: Senate Bill 483 (2024) prohibits the use of prone restraint, including prone containment, upon a student, including a student with disabilities. Prior law authorized staff trained in prone containment to use the procedure on a student with disabilities as an emergency intervention. Prone restraint is the application of a behavioral restraint on a student in a facedown position for any period of time. Because of the potential for this form of restraint to restrict a student’s airway, this form of restraint is considered one of the most dangerous used in a school setting. For this reason, the U.S. Department of Education has encouraged schools to prohibit the use of prone restraints, and over 30 other states have adopted legislation prohibiting its use.
• Data on the use of seclusion and restraint: AB 1466 (2023) requires districts and county offices of education to post on their websites specified data required to be submitted to the California Department of Education (CDE) on the number of times that seclusion, mechanical restraint and physical restraint were used on students and the number of students subjected to such techniques. The use of seclusion and restraint particularly impacts students with disabilities. These students represent only 13 percent of the student population nationally; however, 77 percent of the students who were placed in seclusion and 80 percent of the students who were subjected to physical restraint were students with disabilities.
• Translation of IEP template: SB 445 (2024) requires the CDE to, by Jan. 1, 2027, or no later than 18 months after the IEP template is converted to a digital platform, whichever date comes first, translate the IEP template into the top 10 most commonly spoken languages used across the state other than English and make those templates available on its website. In 2024, the California Collaborative for Education Excellence completed their work to refine the IEP template recommended for students with disabilities in California. This template outlines the key aspects of an IEP that educators and families should consider to ensure each child receives a free and appropriate public education. Additionally, this template aims to make the IEP development process more collaborative, student-centered and outcomes-driven. In accordance with SB 445 (2024), in the coming months this template will be available digitally, translated into the 10 most commonly spoken languages across the state, and made available on CDE’s website.