When a student transfers during a school year to a new district that is not part of the same Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA), the new district must provide the student with a FAPE, including services which are comparable to those in their previous district’s IEP for the first 30 days of attendance in the new district. (A SELPA is a California administrative unit composed of a single large school district, or a collection of smaller districts, which pools special education resources.) During the first 30 days, the new district must either adopt the IEP from the previous school district or develop and implement a new IEP that is consistent with federal and state special education law.^[1]

If a student moves during a school year to a new school district that is within the same SELPA, the new district must continue, without delay, to provide services comparable to those contained in the previous IEP, unless the parents/guardians/other education rights holders and district develop and implement a new IEP.^[2]

If a student transfers during a school year into California with an IEP from another state, their new district must provide them with FAPE, including services comparable to those in their previous IEP, in consultation with their parents/guardians/other education rights holders, until the new district conducts any new assessments and then develops a new IEP.^[3] The student’s new district must take reasonable steps to promptly obtain their school records.^[4]

1. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56325(a)(1).[↩]
2. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56325(a)(2).[↩]
3. Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56325(a)(3).[↩]
4. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(d)(2)(C)(ii); 34 C.F.R. Secs. 300.323(e) & (f); Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56325(b)(1).[↩]