20250AB__186197AMD INTRODUCED 2026-02-11 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2026-03-23 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2026-04-09 2025 AB AMD Introduced by Assembly Member Lackey (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bryan and Lowenthal) LEAD_AUTHOR ASSEMBLY Lackey COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Bryan COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Lowenthal

An act to add

Section 56049.2 to the Education Code, relating to special education. special education Special education: public complaint database. Existing law requires that every individual with exceptional needs, as defined, who is eligible, be provided with educational instruction, services, or both, at no cost to their parent or guardian or, as appropriate, to them. Under existing law, a free appropriate public education is required to be made available to individuals with exceptional needs in accordance with specified federal regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to investigate a complaint alleging a violation of the act and to issue a written decision within days of the complaint being filed, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2030, to create, or contract to create, and maintain a publicly available online aggregate database of all complaints that the department receives on and after July 1, 2027, that allege a violation of the federal law described above.

The bill would require the database to include specified data for each complaint, including, among other things, the total number of complaints the department investigated disaggregated by school district, county office of education, or charter school. After the database has been created, the bill would require the department to ensure that the data required to be included in the database is updated and published on or before December of each year. MAJORITY NO YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION

Section 56049.2 is added to the Education Code , immediately following

Section 56049.1 , to read: 56049.2. (a)

(1) On or before January 1, 2030, the department shall create, or contract to create, and maintain a publicly available online aggregate database of complaints received by the department, on and after July 1, 2027, for an alleged violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

Sec. 1400 et seq.) or regulations implementing the act (Part 300 (commencing with

Section 300.1) of Title of the Code of Federal Regulations). (1)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>All complaints received by the department that it has received consent to post beginning with the first school year in which the database is operational.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(2)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>Within days of the department issuing its decision pursuant to

Section 300.152(a)(5) of Title of the Code of Federal Regulations, the investigation report, which includes the

summary of allegations, applicable citations, findings of fact, conclusions, and required corrective actions.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(b)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>Before entering any documents into the database, the department shall obtain consent from the complainant to add the report to the database and redact any personally identifiable information consistent with the confidentiality requirements of

Section 1417(

c) of Title of the United States Code.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(c)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>The department shall notify school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools of the requirements of this section.</xhtml:p>"?>

(2) The database shall include, but not be limited to, the following data for complaints described in paragraph (1): (

A) The total number of complaints the department investigated, disaggregated by local educational agency. (

B) The number of complaints in which a violation was found, disaggregated by local educational agency and the federal law violated. (

C) The total number of complaints in which a violation was found and corrective action was required, and the total number of corrective action requirements that were met within one year of the written decision, disaggregated by local educational agency. (

b) After the database described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (

a) has been created, the department shall ensure that the data required to be included in the database, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), is updated and published on or before December of each year. (

c) This

section shall not be construed to require the department to publicly disclose individual complaint files, written decisions, or any other records that are subject to the provisions of

Section or the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C.

Sec. 1232g). (

d) For purposes of this section, “local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.