SAN DIEGO — A ruling by the U.S. Department of Education has affirmed the rights of private school students with special needs.
Issued Aug. 3, it came in response to complaints filed by Leticia Oseguera, superintendent of diocesan schools in the Diocese of San Diego, and by Christopher Fisher, her counterpart in the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
“The results are truly promising,” Oseguera said in a message to local Catholic school leaders.
She explained that both the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education and the San Francisco Unified School District were found to be non-compliant in critical areas regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires equitable services for private school students with documented learning disabilities.
“These findings will spark significant changes … statewide, paving the way for much better access to special education and related services for our Catholic school students,” Oseguera said.
For example, it was determined that the required IDEA consultation conducted by the North Coastal Consortium and San Francisco Unified did not meet federal requirements, because private-school representatives were not always afforded meaningful participation and due consideration before important decisions were made.
The ruling requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to complete major statewide corrective actions within one year.
Oseguera said that the diocesan Office for Schools had successfully worked with the San Diego Unified School District in recent years to ensure that Catholic school students who had been determined to have special needs would receive the services due to them under IDEA.
Private schools do not receive federal funding directly, she explained. But, in collaboration with the local public school district, funds can be allocated for individualized tutoring, speech therapy, or other forms of assistance.
Because the Diocese of San Diego covers a geographical area encompassing many school districts, she said, the diocese attempted to come to a similar understanding with the others.
That’s where the difficulties began.
Oseguera ultimately filed a complaint with the CDE against the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, which encompasses 14 member school districts in North County San Diego, on Feb. 7, 2024. Her complaint alleged several IDEA violations.
Among other concerns, Oseguera said, private school parents were being required to “go through so many hoops” to have their children assessed for learning disabilities. Although the CDE found the consortium out of compliance, the corrective actions it ordered lacked substance and were not meaningfully enforced. The consortium also unilaterally determined that services would be consultative, without adequately considering private school representatives’ requests for direct services.
Dissatisfied with the CDE’s Oct. 7, 2024, decision and the limited corrective action that followed, the diocese filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education on Dec. 18, 2024. The following month, the Archdiocese of San Francisco filed a similar complaint against the San Francisco Unified School District.
The U.S. Department of Education’s decision responded to both of these complaints.
“This is a very important decision for our students and families,” said Oseguera. “Every child deserves timely access to evaluation, and private-school leaders must participate meaningfully in decisions affecting the students we serve.”
“This is a significant victory for California’s private-school students, but the real measure of success will be what happens next,” said John Elcesser, executive director of ADAC Advocacy, which partnered with the Diocese of San Diego and Archdiocese of San Francisco in this effort.
“The Department’s decision,” he said, “makes clear that meaningful consultation, effective child find (a term referring to the duty to locate, identify and evaluate children suspected of having disabilities), and accurate proportionate-share calculations directly affect whether students receive the services available to them under federal law.
“Our focus now is on ensuring these corrective actions produce lasting change,” he said.
