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SDLA Compliance Resource

Report a Qualifying Severance or Extended Removal of a Student With Exceptional Needs

A county-notification control for identifying expulsion, exclusion, exemption, transfer, attendance severance, or suspension beyond 10 schooldays and reporting it without confusing the report with IDEA discipline duties.

  • Special Education
  • Attendance
  • County Reporting
Date(s)Promptly when Education Code section 48203 is triggered; follow the county superintendent's current reporting method and timeline
Applies toDistrict superintendents and private-school principals when attendance is severed for a child with exceptional needs or Section 504 plan in a covered manner

In Plain Language: Report to the county superintendent when a covered student is expelled, excluded, exempted, transferred, otherwise severed from attendance, or suspended beyond 10 schooldays. The report is an external notification; it does not authorize the removal or replace FAPE, manifestation, service, placement, or records-transfer duties.

Why this matters

Severance can make a student disappear between attendance, discipline, special education, and receiving-school systems. County notice creates an additional continuity signal.

Joint ownership

Report owner: superintendent/principal designee. Partners: attendance, discipline, special education/504, records, receiving-school liaison, county superintendent, and CALPADS staff.

Operational workflow

  1. 1. Screen every covered exit/removal for exceptional-needs or Section 504 status and section 48203 trigger.
  2. 2. Verify action type, dates, cumulative suspension, destination if known, educational-rights holder, and continuing service/records obligations.
  3. 3. Submit the required county notice through the current local channel and retain proof.
  4. 4. Reconcile attendance/CALPADS, IEP/504 services, records/device transfer, and receiving-agency follow-up.

Report plus continuity—not report instead of continuity

Qualifying severance/removal identified
County superintendent notified
FAPE/504 and discipline protections maintained
Records, AT, and receiving handoff completed
Enrollment/exit data reconciled

Evidence to retain

  • Trigger review and action dates
  • Disability/504 status confirmation
  • County report and delivery proof
  • Continuing-service and discipline-protection records
  • Records/AT/CALPADS receiving-handoff verification

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California law, court or OAH instructions, local SELPA procedures, individual circumstances, and the exact service and records state before acting.