Special Education Agencies With Acronyms Parents Should Remember - OAH, CDE, OCR, OSEP, Area Boards
By Michelle Ball, California Education Attorney for Students since 1995 There are so many special education resources for parents, I thought I would briefly explain just a few and provide links for parent use. 1) OAH- Office of Administrative Hearings : This is a very critical agency in California for parents. OAH is where parents file due process hearing requests to attempt to resolve special education placement, service, FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education), and other special education issues. Information on how to proceed, and even a searchable opinion database can be accessed at their site. 2) CDE - Procedural Safeguards Referral Service : This is the branch of the CDE (California Department of Education) which takes complaints for failure to implement an IEP, procedural failures of districts and other district issues. 3) OSEP- the Office of Special Education Programs : OSEP is a branch of the United States Department...