The short answer: a written request from a parent is a legal trigger, not a favour you are asking. California defines a "referral for assessment" to include "any written request for assessment… made by… a parent or guardian."¹ Once the district receives it, the district has 15 days to give you a proposed assessment plan, and 60 days from your signature to complete the assessment and hold the meeting. It costs nothing, and you do not need a private diagnosis first.

Write the request — email is fine

Send it to the principal and the district's special education director. Email is fine; it timestamps itself. Keep it to five sentences:

I am the parent of [name], date of birth [date], currently in [grade] at [school]. I am requesting a full initial special education assessment in all areas of suspected disability, including [what you are seeing — attention, reading, speech, social communication, anxiety at school]. I understand that under Education Code 56321 I should receive a proposed assessment plan within 15 days of this request. Please confirm receipt of this referral and the date it was received. I am happy to provide any history that would help.

Do not diagnose in the letter. Describe what you see: what happens, how often, and what it is costing your child at school.

Watch the 15-day clock

The district must give you a written assessment plan within 15 days of receiving your request, excluding school breaks longer than five school days.² A copy of your rights must be attached to it. You then have at least 15 days to decide and sign.²

If a "student study team" is offered instead of an assessment: that is a real process and it is not a substitute. California says a referral should follow the resources of general education being "considered and, where appropriate, utilized" — considered, not completed — and federal guidance states plainly that an intervention process "cannot be used to delay or deny" an evaluation.³ You can accept the meeting and still insist the assessment clock is running. If the district refuses to assess, it must give you that refusal in writing with its reasons, which is what you appeal.⁴

Sign, and watch the 60-day clock

From the date you sign consent, the district has 60 days to complete the assessment and hold the IEP meeting.⁵ Long school breaks pause it.⁵ Put the deadline in your calendar the day you sign, and email the case manager at the halfway point asking which assessments are done.

If you disagree with the results

Two things you are entitled to and most parents are never told:

  • An independent educational assessment at public expense, if you disagree with the district's assessment.⁶
  • The assessment at no cost, always. Special education in California is defined as instruction "at no cost to the parent," and federal law requires it "at public expense… and without charge."⁷ If a medical assessment is required as part of it, federal civil-rights guidance says the district must ensure it happens at no cost to you.⁸

What happens next

Assessment does not automatically mean an IEP; it means an answer, in writing, with data. If your child does not qualify for special education, ask about a Section 504 plan in the same meeting — the threshold is different and accommodations can still follow.

And keep the two systems separate in your head: the school route is free and slower, your health plan owes you medically necessary diagnostic care regardless, and your plan may not refuse it on the grounds that the school could do it instead.⁹ Run both. Child autism assessment, both routes → · ADHD: when testing is not needed →

Sources

  1. California Education Code §56029 — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  2. Ed Code §56321(a) and §56043(a) — 15 days to a proposed assessment plan; rights notice attached; at least 15 days for the parent to decide.
  3. Ed Code §56303; US Department of Education OSEP Memorandum 11-07 — sites.ed.gov.
  4. Ed Code §56500.4 — prior written notice on refusal to assess, including "an explanation of why the public agency proposes or refuses to take the action."
  5. Ed Code §56302.1(a) and §56344(a) — 60 days from parental consent; breaks over five school days excluded under §56344(a).
  6. Ed Code §56329(b) — independent educational assessment at public expense.
  7. Ed Code §56031(a); 34 CFR §300.17 — ecfr.gov.
  8. US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, "Know Your Rights: Students with ADHD" (2016) — if a medical assessment is required as part of the evaluation, the district must ensure the student receives it at no cost to the parent — ed.gov.
  9. California Health & Safety Code §1374.72(h) — ca.gov.

All figures checked 17 August 2026.

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