Ballou Education is a special education advocate in Malibu. Advocacy for Malibu families balancing distance, small schools and the services your child is entitled to.
Geography is a special education issue in Malibu. When the nearest appropriate program is a 45-minute drive, distance shapes every placement decision — and districts know that families will often accept less rather than spend the hours.
Malibu students are served by Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, which operates a small number of local campuses and relies on programs elsewhere in the district for many specialized services. That structure makes transportation, service minutes and continuity especially important to get right in the IEP.
We help families ask the questions that matter here: Will transportation be provided, and how? What happens when a provider is absent for weeks? If a service is only available in Santa Monica, how is that equivalent to a local service? These are documented problems, and they belong in the plan.
Transportation is a related service. If your child’s IEP requires a placement outside their neighborhood school, transportation should be addressed in the document, including for after-school services and extended school year.
Getting transportation, continuity and ESY written into the plan.
Explore placement helpMediation and compliance complaints when services are not delivered.
Explore dispute optionsServes Malibu with local campuses and district-wide specialized programs.
Malibu families frequently use private schools; students may still be eligible for district assessment and a services plan.
Serves some adjacent areas and provides programs through its own special education division.
We read the file, including transportation and service logs.
We identify the placement and support decisions that need to be made in writing.
We attend the meeting and document commitments.
Transportation is a related service and must be provided if it is necessary for your child to access the placement. It should be specified in the IEP, including for extended school year.
Placement depends on the IEP and the available continuum of services. If the appropriate program is not at the neighborhood school, the district must still provide the services and, where required, transportation.
Yes. We help families request assessment and services through the district of residence, and we attend meetings with the private school as well.
Yes. Malibu students attend Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, and we work with families across both cities on IEPs, 504 plans, evaluations and dispute resolution.
No. We attend meetings in person across the district or by video, and document review and preparation work the same regardless of location.
Free consultation for families in Malibu and the Santa Monica-Malibu district.
