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🧩 Special Needs & Special Education Homeschooling in California

What California offers homeschool families of children with disabilities or learning differences — special-needs scholarships, evaluations and services — from our California guide and articles.

Special education for homeschooled students

Special education: CDE says California recognizes home schools as private elementary and secondary schools. So a child with a disability in a home school that files the Private School Affidavit is treated the same way as other children whose parents place them in private schools (CDE, Equitable Services for Students with Disabilities, reviewed July 17, 2026).

Child find: the local educational agency (LEA) must locate, identify and evaluate all children with disabilities enrolled by their parents in private schools, including religious schools, located in the district it serves. Its child find for these children must be similar to what it does for its public school children, and it must be finished in a time comparable to that for public school students (34 CFR 300.131). A U.S. Department of Education Q&A (April 2011), reprinted in the North Santa Cruz County SELPA's handbook, says that generally the LEA where a homeschooled child lives is responsible for child find, including first evaluations and reevaluations.

Evaluations: if you homeschool and don't consent to a first evaluation or a reevaluation, or don't respond to the request, the public agency can't use the consent override procedures to evaluate anyway. It also doesn't have to consider your child eligible for equitable services (34 CFR 300.300(d)(4)).

Services: no child placed by a parent in a private school has an individual right to receive some or all of the special education and related services they would get in public school, and these children may receive a different amount of services. Instead, the LEA must spend a proportionate share of its federal IDEA money on them, and the cost of child find doesn't count toward that share. The LEA makes the final decisions about which services it provides (34 CFR 300.137).

Annual count: each LEA counts the parentally placed private school children with disabilities attending private schools located in the LEA, on a date between October 1 and December 1 each year. That count sets how much the LEA must spend on these children in the next fiscal year (34 CFR 300.133(c)). The federal Q&A reprinted by the North Santa Cruz County SELPA says a child whose parent refuses consent for evaluation can't be included in the count. A child the LEA finds eligible is counted even if the parent turns down the public school offer.

Consultation: the LEA must consult with private school representatives and with representatives of parents of these children while it designs their services. The topics are how child find works and how parents will be told about it; how the proportionate share was calculated; how consultation will continue through the school year; and how, where and by whom services will be provided, including the types of services, how services will be divided if the money isn't enough to serve every child, and how and when those decisions will be made. If the LEA disagrees with private school officials about services, it must give them a written explanation of its reasons (34 CFR 300.134).

Services plans: a child the LEA designates to receive services gets an individual services plan (ISP) from the LEA where the private school is located. CDE says the ISP should reflect only the services that LEA offers, not everything a public school IEP might include. The LEA sets up and runs the meetings to write, review and revise the plan. To the extent appropriate, the plan follows the federal rules for IEP content and meetings. Services come from public agency employees or contractors, and the services, materials and equipment must be secular, neutral and nonideological (34 CFR 300.137–300.138). CDE's page doesn't say which district counts as the location of a home-based private school, so ask your district of residence which district will write the plan.

Where services happen and rides: services may be provided at the private school, including a religious school, to the extent consistent with law. If your child needs transportation to benefit from or take part in the services, the LEA must provide it from the school or home to a service site other than the private school, and from the service site back to the school or home. The LEA doesn't have to provide transportation from your home to the private school (34 CFR 300.139).

If you might enroll in public school: the LEA doesn't have to pay for private school if it made a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available and you chose a private school (34 CFR 300.148(a)). Local practice varies. In the North Santa Cruz County SELPA's procedures, for example, the district of residence writes an IEP if parents are interested in public school or unsure. The district of location writes an ISP if parents are clearly not interested. The district of residence also writes to parents each year to say it still offers FAPE if the child enrolls. Ask your own district or SELPA how it handles this.

Part-time public classes: the federal Q&A reprinted by the North Santa Cruz County SELPA says state law decides whether a homeschooled child with a disability who takes some courses at a public school counts as a private school student or a public school student. Either way, the public school must give the child an equal opportunity to take part in or benefit from those courses under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you want to enroll full time, the LEA where you live would generally have to make FAPE available.

Preschool: LEAs must offer a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to every preschool-age child with disabilities within their boundaries, even children enrolled in private schools.

Charter and district independent study: children with disabilities in public charter schools and their parents keep all of their federal IDEA rights (34 CFR 300.209(a)). A student with an IEP may take part in independent study if the IEP specifically provides for it. If a parent asks for independent study, the IEP team must decide case by case whether the student can receive FAPE there, and a student's need for adult support or for special education services doesn't rule it out (EC 51745(c), as restated in the Santa Cruz County Office of Education's independent study policy, adopted September 19, 2024). Before you enroll, ask the school in writing how it will provide your child's IEP services, and keep a copy of its answer.

Due process: for children placed by their parents in private schools, the due process hearing rules apply only to complaints about child find, including evaluations. They don't apply to complaints about services, including the services in your child's services plan. Federal rules say a child find due process complaint is filed with the LEA where the private school is located, with a copy to the state (34 CFR 300.140). In California, due process hearings are requested through the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), so ask your district or OAH how to file. Either a district or a parent may file a Request for Due Process Hearing and Mediation with OAH, with a Proof of Service showing it was sent to the other party. A parent may also file a Request for Mediation Only. Disagreements about whether the district made FAPE available, and about paying you back for private school, also go to due process (34 CFR 300.148(b)).

State complaints: complaints that an LEA broke the other private school rules, such as consultation, spending or services plans, go through the state complaint process (34 CFR 300.140(c)). Any individual or organization may file a signed written complaint. It must be about a violation no more than one year before the complaint is received, and you send a copy to the LEA serving your child at the same time (34 CFR 300.153). The North Santa Cruz County SELPA's procedures say these complaints go to the California Department of Education under Title 5, California Code of Regulations, section 4600 and following. A private school official can also complain to the state that the LEA's consultation wasn't meaningful and timely, and can take it to the U.S. Secretary of Education if unhappy with the state's decision (34 CFR 300.136).

Read the full section in our California guide

Articles for California families

Official sources

Summarized from our California guide (as of October 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.

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