If you “unilaterally” place your child at a non-public school without the consent of the IEP team, your child has no individual right to special education and related services.^[1] For purposes of this question, a non-public school is a private school that can be religious. This question is not addressing non-public schools certified by the California Department of Education to educate students with specific disabilities or needs.

For students unilaterally enrolled in a non-public school by their parents/guardians/other education rights holders, a district is still responsible for full implementation of its “child-find” and assessment duties, but has extremely limited obligations for providing related services.^[2] This means that a student may receive a different, and significantly smaller, amount of services than a child in a public school. The amount of money spent on these students will be limited to a proportionate share of the federal dollars received by the district (based on the number of these students there are in the district).^[3]The services the district provides will be written in a service plan, not an IEP. The district makes the final decisions with respect to the specific services after consultation with local non-public school officials.^[4] If a related service is agreed to in the child’s service plan by a school district and transportation is necessary for a student to benefit from, or participate in one of these services, the district must also provide the necessary transportation.^[5]

Similarly, if your child currently has an IEP through their district but you decide to “unilaterally” transfer and place your child at a non-public school without the consent of the IEP team, the district will not be obligated to provide your child with the special education and related services being offered to them pursuant to their IEP.^[6] To avoid that result from occurring, you could advocate for the IEP team to agree to the placement of your child at the non-public school and write that into the IEP before unilaterally placing your child at the non-public school. This way the district will still be required to either ensure the non-public school will provide your child with the services that are in their IEP or the district will have to make other arrangements to ensure your child receives those services. 

If you unilaterally placed your child in a NPS and if the district refuses to provide you with any or some services through an individual services plan, you do not have the right to challenge a school district’s refusal through due process.^[7] You may, however, file a compliance complaint with CDE to challenge issues such as the district’s failure to implement its child-find or assessment responsibilities or to consult with local NPS officials in determining the nature and scope of its limited service responsibilities.^[8]

1. 34 C.F.R. Secs. 300.137(a); 300.139.[↩]
2. 34 C.F.R. Secs. 300.131-132. see also Chapter 4, Information on IEP Process.[↩]
3. 34 C.F.R. Secs. 300.133 – 138.[↩]
4. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.137(b).[↩]
5. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.139(b).[↩]
6. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.137(a)[↩]
7. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.140.[↩]
8. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.139, 300.140; see also Chapter 6, Information on Due Process/Compliance Procedures.[↩]