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SDLA Compliance Resource

Prepare and Submit the 2025–26 Civil Rights Data Collection

A federal school-and-LEA data certification process requiring common definitions, source ownership, subgroup and school reconciliation, privacy controls, and executive attestation.

  • CRDC
  • Civil Rights
  • Federal Reporting
Date(s)Expected to open sometime in December 2026; exact opening and closing dates remain pending federal publication
Applies toAll public LEAs and schools receiving federal financial assistance, including charter, juvenile justice, alternative, and disability-focused schools within the federal universe

In Plain Language: Use the approved 2025–26 forms and definitions to build a field-level source map now; wait for OCR’s official collection schedule, then validate and certify every applicable LEA- and school-level response.

Why this matters

CRDC combines civil-rights indicators from student, discipline, course, staffing, restraint/seclusion, access, and program systems. Similar local labels often use different definitions or reporting periods.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: superintendent-designated CRDC coordinator. Partners: civil rights, SIS/data, HR, discipline, special education, counseling/courses, athletics, preschool, technology, school leaders, legal/privacy, and certifier.

From the federal universe to a certified CRDC submission: the SDLA ITO workflow

Build the source map now, then wait for OCR's official schedule before submitting. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the federal reporting universe, the approved 2025–26 forms, and the school and pupil data become the source-owner matrix, the variance log, and the certified submission.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the federal reporting universe, the approved 2025–26 forms, and the school and pupil data, through the field-source map, cross-system reconciliation, and owner and executive review, to the source-owner matrix, the variance log, and the certified submission.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers the field-source map, cross-system reconciliation, and owner and executive review; Output covers the source-owner matrix, the variance log, and the certified submission. Exact opening and closing dates remain pending federal publication.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Confirm federal reporting universe, primary/alternate contacts, account access, and approved 2025–26 forms.
  2. Create a field-by-field definition, source system, owner, reporting period, and validation rule.
  3. Reconcile school lists, enrollment/subgroups, denominators, zero/null/not-applicable values, and cross-section relationships.
  4. Perform owner, civil-rights, privacy, and executive review; document every material variance.
  5. When dates open, upload/enter, resolve portal errors, certify, and archive the final submission.

Implementation pathway

Universe/forms
Field-source map
Cross-system reconcile
Owner/executive review
Submit/certify

Evidence to retain

  • Federal universe/contact record
  • Field-source-owner matrix
  • Validation/variance log
  • Approvals/attestation
  • Certified export/confirmation

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California requirements, live reporting instructions, grant or audit year, local policy, source records, and final submitted state before acting.