Special education: parental consent.

(1) Existing law, in defining the term "consent" for purposes of the provision of special education and related services to individuals with exceptional needs, includes in that definition a statement that a parent or guardian understands that granting consent is voluntary and he or she may revoke that consent at any time. Existing law provides that revocation of consent is not retroactive to negate an action that occurred after consent was given and prior to the revocation. This bill, in addition, would provide that a public agency is not required to amend the education records of a child to remove any reference to the child's receipt of special education and services if the child's parent or guardian submits a written revocation of consent after the initial provision of special education and related services to the child. (2) Existing law requires a local educational agency that is responsible for providing a free appropriate public education and related services to a child with a disability to make reasonable efforts to obtain informed consent from the parent of the child before providing special education and related services to the child, as specified. Existing law requires a local educational agency to file a request for due process, as specified, if the parent or guardian of a child who is an individual with exceptional needs refuses all services in the individualized education program after having consented to those services in the past. This bill would delete that latter requirement and, pursuant to a specified federal regulation, instead would prohibit a public agency, in the event that the parent or guardian of a child submits a written revocation of his or her consent at any time subsequent to the initial provision of special education and related services to the child, from continuing to provide special education and related services to the child or from using specified procedural safeguards to obtain agreement or a ruling that the services may be provided to the child. The bill would require the public agency to provide prior written notice to the child's parent or guardian, as specified, before ceasing the provision of the special education and related services. The bill would require that a public agency be deemed in compliance with the requirement to make a free appropriate public education available to a child if the agency ceases to provide the child with further special education and related services pursuant to these provisions. The bill would provide that a public agency is not required to convene an individualized education program team meeting or develop an individualized education program for the child for further provision of special education and related services.