California OAH special education order · December 31, 2025
Order Denying Student's Motion to Compel Supplemental Document Production
OAH Case No. 2025080333 · ALJ Claire Yazigi
OAH denied Student's motion to compel supplemental document production from Los Angeles because special education due process cases allow no prehearing discovery beyond the five-business-day evidence exchange.
Summary
OAH had already denied Student's first motion to compel discovery and treated it as a parental records request. Student then moved to compel more documents, arguing that Los Angeles's production was materially incomplete. Los Angeles objected that prehearing discovery is not allowed and that it had already produced all of Student's records. OAH denied the motion because neither the IDEA nor California law gives a right to prehearing discovery, but it noted that the parties may still issue subpoenas for the documents before hearing.
Why it matters
Parents cannot use discovery motions to force a district to produce documents in OAH special education cases. The available tools are a records request under the Education Code and subpoenas duces tecum issued for the hearing.
Key authority cited
- 20 U.S.C. § 1415(h)
- Ed. Code, § 56505, subd. (e)
- Ed. Code, § 56505, subd. (a)
- Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 3082, subd. (c)(2)
- Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 3089
Topics
Full text of the order
Published text of the OAH order. Page headers and numbers from the original PDF have been dropped.
BEFORE THE
OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE MATTER OF:
PARENTS ON BEHALF OF STUDENT,
v.
LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.
OAH CASE NUMBER 2025080333
ORDER DENYING STUDENT’S MOTION TO COMPEL
SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT PRODUCTION
DECEMBER 31, 2025
On November 24, 2025, Student filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings, or OAH, a motion to compel discovery. On December 11, 2025, OAH denied Student’s motion to compel on the ground that no right exists to prehearing discovery in due process proceedings under the IDEA beyond the exchange of evidence required five business days prior to hearing. Instead, OAH’s Order characterized Student’s request as a parental request for documents under the California Education Code and federal and state special education law.
On December 19, 2025, Student filed the present motion, which seeks to compel supplemental document production, on the ground that Los Angeles’s production of documents was materially incomplete. On December 24, 2025, Los Angeles objected to the motion on the grounds that prehearing discovery is not permitted in special education due process matters, and that it had already produced all applicable student records to Parent.
In general, there is no right to prehearing discovery in due process proceedings under the IDEA. (20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.) Rather, the IDEA provides parties with the right to present evidence and compel the attendance of witnesses at a hearing conducted pursuant to subsection (f) or (k) of section 1415 of title 20 of the United States Code. (20 U.S.C. § 1415(h).) California provides a similar right to present evidence and compel the attendance of witnesses in due process proceedings (Ed. Code, § 56505, subd. (e)), but does not confer the right to prehearing discovery.
Education Code section 56505, subdivision (a), provides that the state hearing shall be conducted in accordance with regulations adopted by the board, and under that authority the Department of Education promulgated section 3082, subdivision (c)(2), of title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, which authorizes the issuance of subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum. These regulations specifically disallow the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act that provide broader authority for the use of subpoenas in other administrative hearings. (5 Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, § 3089 [inapplicability of Govt. Code, §§ 11450.05-11450.30 to due process hearing procedures].)
Prehearing discovery is not permitted in special education due process matters, beyond the exchange of evidence required five business days prior to hearing. As such, Student’s motion to compel supplemental document production is DENIED.
Nothing in this order shall prevent the parties from issuing subpoenas for the documents they seek, in preparation for hearing. Instructions may be found on OAH’s website at:
https://www.dgs.ca.gov/OAH/Case-Types/Special-Education/Self-Help/Subpoenas
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Claire Yazigi Administrative Law Judge Office of Administrative Hearings