What can I do to get the government to pass this law? Do petitions work?

I want to start a petition that will require the state of California to require all private schools to provide special education services to their disabled students. How many people should sign the petition? Will it work? What must I do?What can I do to get the government to pass this law? Do petitions work?
Make sure that you include a provision that they can charge the parents the extra costs involved.What can I do to get the government to pass this law? Do petitions work?
Get lots of signatures. It will fail because it is a stupid idea. It would apply to all schools, including the one room school house that has no special ed students. There is already plenty of law requiring every school district to provide a ';Free Appropriate Public Education'; for every student with special needs. If the school offers something other than what you consider to be ';appropriate'; for the needs of a child, you can have a judge decide it. The other problem is that special educational needs are different for every child. It may range from nothing more than making sure the child with hearing aids sits near the teacher, to a full-time-one-on-one physical aid. Your proposal would make every school offer every possible kind of services to every child, whether they need it or not. Think your taxes are high now? Multiply them by ten.