Know your rights
The rights families most often are not told they have
Rights you have at any time
These do not depend on a meeting, a form, or anyone offering them to you.
You can request an evaluation in writing at any time
A parent request starts the process. The district must either evaluate or give you prior written notice explaining, in writing, why it refuses.
34 CFR §300.301(b)You must get prior written notice before things change
Before the school proposes or refuses to change your child’s identification, evaluation, placement, or provision of a free appropriate public education, it must tell you in writing — including what it considered and rejected, and why.
34 CFR §300.503You can disagree with the school’s evaluation and ask for another one
If you disagree with the district’s evaluation you may request an independent educational evaluation at public expense. The district must either pay for it or file for due process to defend its own — it may not simply say no and stop there.
34 CFR §300.502(b)You are a full member of the IEP team
The meeting must be scheduled at a mutually agreed time and place, and the district must take steps to ensure you can participate — including an interpreter if you need one.
34 CFR §300.322Your child stays put during a dispute
While a due process proceeding is pending, your child remains in the current educational placement unless you and the district agree otherwise.
34 CFR §300.518(a)Services continue over the summer if your child needs them
Extended school year services must be provided when the IEP team determines they are necessary. A district may not limit them to one category of disability or a fixed amount.
34 CFR §300.106You can revoke consent, and you can consent to part of an IEP
Consent is voluntary and may be revoked in writing at any time. Many families sign attendance but withhold consent on a specific service — say so in writing rather than leaving it ambiguous.
34 CFR §300.300(b)(4)
Deadlines the school has to meet
These are the federal numbers. Your state may be shorter, and where it is, the shorter one applies — use the deadline calculator for actual dates.
Initial evaluation completed
60 calendar daysvaries by stateCounted from the date you signed consent for the evaluation.
Many states set a shorter or differently-counted deadline, and a state rule that is more protective wins.
34 CFR §300.301(c)(1)IEP in effect after eligibility is decided
30 calendar daysCounted from the date the team determined your child is eligible.
This is the meeting-to-services clock, separate from the evaluation clock.
34 CFR §300.323(c)(1)School must let you inspect records
45 calendar daysCounted from the date you requested the records.
And it must be before any IEP meeting or due process hearing, whichever comes first — so a request made close to a meeting is due before the meeting, not 45 days later.
34 CFR §300.613(a)State must resolve a written complaint
60 calendar daysCounted from the date the state education agency received your complaint.
The complaint itself must allege a violation that happened within the previous year.
34 CFR §300.152(a)Resolution meeting after a due process complaint
15 calendar daysCounted from the date the district received your due process complaint.
The district convenes this; you can waive it in writing or agree to mediation instead.
34 CFR §300.510(a)(1)Resolution period ends
30 calendar daysCounted from the date the district received your due process complaint.
If it is not resolved by then, the hearing timeline starts.
34 CFR §300.510(b)(1)Hearing decision issued
45 calendar daysCounted from the end of the 30-day resolution period.
A hearing officer may grant specific extensions at a party’s request.
34 CFR §300.515(a)Notice before a unilateral private placement
10 business daysCounted from the date you intend to remove your child.
Give this in writing, before the removal, if you may later seek reimbursement. Missing it can reduce or eliminate what a hearing officer will award.
34 CFR §300.148(d)(1)(ii)Manifestation determination review
10 school daysCounted from the date the school decided to change the placement for discipline.
Triggered by a removal of more than 10 school days in a year, or a pattern of shorter removals.
34 CFR §300.530(e)Notice that rights transfer at the age of majority
365 calendar daysvaries by stateCounted from your child’s birthday one year before the age of majority in your state.
The IEP must include this statement at least a year ahead, so families are not surprised by it.
34 CFR §300.320(c)
Where to get this checked, free
Your state’s parent center
Free, federally funded, and staffed largely by parents who have been through this. They will read your IEP with you at no charge.
CADRE — state dispute resolution contacts
The national centre on special education dispute resolution. Use it to find the office in your state that takes complaints and arranges mediation.
Your state’s special education regulations
The official directory of state education agency special education directors, kept by the US Department of Education.
Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. This page has no server to send it to.
This is information about what the regulations say, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for someone who knows your child. Special education law also varies by state. Your state parent center is free, federally funded, and will go through any of this with you.
Why the citations are here
Every entry on this page links to the regulation itself on eCFR, which is the government’s own published copy. That is deliberate. A paraphrase on an advocacy site is something a district can dismiss; the section number is something it has to look up.
You do not need to quote regulations to be taken seriously, and leading with them can make a cooperative meeting adversarial. But when a request has already been refused once, adding the cite to the follow-up changes who reads it.
The two most useful, in practice
- Prior written notice (§300.503). Before the school changes — or refuses to change — identification, evaluation, placement or services, it must tell you in writing, including what else it considered and why it rejected it. That last part is almost always omitted, and asking for it specifically is often what gets a decision revisited.
- Independent educational evaluation (§300.502). If you disagree with the district’s evaluation you can ask it to pay for another one. It must then either pay or file for a hearing to defend its own. Simply saying no is not one of the options.
State law can give more, never less
Everything here is the federal floor. States build on it, and several give families considerably more — shorter evaluation timelines, extra notice requirements, broader eligibility. Nowhere can give less.