Beyond the Benefit of the Doubt

Tool 2 of 6

Legal Quick-Reference Card

Child Find, FAPE, and LRE in plain language. One page, every seat at the table.

Each entry pairs the plain-language line with its statute, so anyone at the table can check the source.

Open each one to read it.

Child Find

When a disability is suspected, the district must actively monitor, review, and evaluate; offering general education supports is permitted, but it does not satisfy this duty, and the district cannot "wait and see"

Cal. Educ. Code § 56301

FAPE

Appropriate and ambitious for this child, defined by law, not by comparison.

20 U.S.C. section 1400 et seq.; Rowley (1982); Endrew F. (2017)

LRE

General education with supports first. Removal only when that cannot work.

Cal. Educ. Code section 56040.1

Three separate decisions

  1. Is the student eligible?
  2. What services are required?
  3. Where are they delivered?

These three decisions are related but kept separate. Eligibility in one area does not mean services in every area, and services are not a place. Moving a student out of general education carries its own cost, less time with peers and a higher risk of over-identification, so general education stays the goal whenever it can still offer an adequate experience with the right supports.