Existing law requires nonpublic, nonsectarian schools (NPSs) to be certified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) before they can contract with school districts or county offices of education to serve students with disabilities. Certification involves an onsite review, compliance with credential and staff training requirements, and assurances that students can communicate privately with their individualized education program (IEP) teams. Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) must also conduct annual monitoring visits for each contracting NPS.
SB 373 imposes new obligations on California NPSs and expands LEA duties, especially when students are placed out of state. For California NPSs, the bill clarifies that the prohibition on corporal punishment under Education Code Section 49001 applies not only to public schools but also to NPSs, charter schools, and the State Special Schools for the blind and deaf. Additionally, this bill expands the existing requirement that an NPS ensure confidential communication between a student and their IEP team to specifically mandate that an NPS ensure the privacy and confidentiality of telecommunication when students contact their IEP teams or California Department of Education’s Constituent Services Office, at the student’s discretion.
For LEAs, this bill expands responsibilities beginning in the 2026–27 school year. Under existing law, LEAs were required to provide students’ parents a copy of their rights and procedural safeguards at specified times. Now, any time an LEA is required to provide a parent a copy of their rights and procedural safeguards, the student must also receive a copy.
Additionally, when students are placed in out-of-state NPSs, LEAs must conduct in-person interviews as part of their annual onsite visits, evaluate student health and safety, and report their findings to CDE. They must also conduct quarterly unmonitored phone check-ins with each out-of-state student consistent with the student’s IEP. In addition, when an IEP team considers out-of-state placement, LEAs must share the SPI’s certification findings with parents, including compliance history and corrective actions, and must document in the IEP that this information has been provided and discussed. By July 1, 2026, CDE must develop a standardized pupil interview tool to help LEAs and SPI evaluate dignity, respect, and safety. LEAs may use this state tool or their own if it meets equivalent standards.
In short, SB 373 reinforces student protections by clarifying and expanding the obligations of both NPSs and LEAs. NPSs must ensure strict confidentiality of student communication and are explicitly covered by the corporal punishment ban, while LEAs face heightened monitoring and notification requirements, particularly when they place students out of state.
(SB 373 amends Sections 49001, 56301, 56366.1, 56366.4, 56366.12, and 56836.20 of the Education Code.)