When you disagree with the school: options and where to ask
A ladder of options from a written question to a due process hearing, Section 504, records and discipline routes, where your state's routes are written down, and whom to call first.
- Start here: the essentials
- 1. A ladder, from least to most formal
- 2. The first rungs: asking, notice, a meeting, a facilitator
- 3. The formal routes: mediation, a state complaint, due process
- 4. Other disagreements: evaluations, 504 plans, records
- 5. Where your state's routes are, and whom to call first
- 6. Discipline: removals and the manifestation determination
- 7. Go deeper: the routes compared, and questions for a lawyer
- 8. See it
- 9. Practice
- 10. Your situation
- 11. Check your work
- 12. Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
For a first pass, write the disagreement down, make sure you have asked about it in writing, find your state's routes on its Rules and Record page, and call the parent center listed there. The side-by-side comparison of routes and the legal questions are Go deeper.
- Write the disagreement in one sentence, with the date it began. Say what the school did or refused, not why (the ladder).
- Check it is in your communication log and that you have asked about it in writing. A written question, or a request for prior written notice, is the first rung (the first rungs).
- Open your state's Rules and Record page and copy its dispute routes and offices to your state sheet. Copy what the page says, with today's date (your state's routes).
- Call or write the parent center listed on that page. Tell them your one sentence and what you have asked so far (whom to call first).
Minimum time: about 45 minutes, plus the call. Done when: the disagreement is written and dated, the written question is logged, and your state's routes and parent center are on your state sheet.
This chapter names the options and says where each is described. It does not recommend a route, assess your situation, say whether a school has violated anything, calculate a filing window or predict an outcome. Federal windows are quoted as the regulations state them, including the regulation's own allowance for a state's limit; your state's are on its Rules and Record page, quoted from the state. "Stay put" applies during due process proceedings as 34 CFR 300.518 states, not to every disagreement. If an outcome could affect your child's placement, services or eligibility, talk to the parent center on your state's page, an advocate or an attorney before you respond to the school.
1. A ladder, from least to most formal Understand
Disagreement is a normal part of the IEP process. Parents and schools disagree about evaluations, goals, services, placement and discipline, and most disagreements are settled by a conversation, a written answer or another meeting. The federal regulations also set out formal routes for disagreements that are not settled that way, and states add their own.
The national dispute resolution center CADRE, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, describes the range as a continuum with five stages: prevention, disagreement, conflict, procedural safeguards and legal review (CADRE Continuum). This manual turns that into a ladder. Each rung up is more formal, takes more time and involves more people from outside the team. You can go to a higher rung without climbing every rung below it; the ladder is an order of formality, not a required sequence. Convention
| Rung | What it is | Who decides | Where it is described |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask in writing | A written question to the teacher, case manager or principal. | The school answers | This chapter, section 2 |
| Prior written notice | The school's written statement of what it proposes or refuses and why. | The school, in writing | 34 CFR 300.503 |
| IEP meeting | The team meets to review and revise the IEP. | The team, including you | 34 CFR 300.324 |
| Facilitated IEP meeting | An IEP meeting run by a neutral facilitator, where the state or district offers one. | The team, including you | Your state's page |
| Mediation | A voluntary, confidential discussion with a trained, impartial mediator. | You and the school, together | 34 CFR 300.506 |
| State complaint | A signed written complaint to the state education agency alleging a violation. | The state agency | 34 CFR 300.153 |
| Due process complaint and hearing | A formal proceeding before an impartial hearing officer. | The hearing officer | 34 CFR 300.507 to 300.518 |
This manual's default is that a question is asked and recorded before it becomes a dispute. That is not because the formal routes are bad; it is because a written question often gets a written answer, and the answer is either the end of the matter or the record the next rung rests on. Preference There are times when starting lower is the wrong call: a deadline may be running, a disciplinary removal may be under way, or an outcome could affect placement. That is the reason for the parent center call in Start here, before any decision about routes.
Writing the disagreement in one sentence
Before any rung, write what the disagreement is in one sentence, with the date it began. Say what the school did or refused, and leave out why you think it happened.
- "Since September 2, 7 of 24 scheduled speech sessions have not been held."
- "On October 3 the school declined my request for a reading evaluation."
- "The final IEP removes the behavior check-in that the team discussed but did not decide."
A sentence like this tells anyone you ask for help what the question is. It also helps you notice when a disagreement is really two disagreements, each with its own route.
2. The first rungs: asking, notice, a meeting, a facilitator
Ask in writing
A written question has a date, a recipient and words that can be read later. Send it to the person closest to the decision (the provider, the case manager), keep it short, and log it (After the meeting). "On the October progress report, the speech goal says 'progressing.' Could you send the data behind it, and tell me how the sessions missed since September will be handled?" Many disagreements end here.
Ask for prior written notice
When the school proposes or refuses to start or change your child's identification, evaluation, placement or services, it must give you written notice a reasonable time before it acts, with its reasons, the records it used and the other options it considered (34 CFR 300.503). If you asked for something and the answer was no, ask for the notice. It turns a spoken "no" into a written answer with reasons, and it tells you where to get help understanding your safeguards. Log the request on your requests sheet.
Ask for an IEP meeting
The team revises the IEP as appropriate to address, among other things, a lack of expected progress and information the parents provide (34 CFR 300.324(b)). You can ask in writing for a meeting to discuss a specific concern. Say what the concern is in your one sentence, and use Before the meeting and In the meeting to prepare.
A facilitated IEP meeting
Some states and districts offer a facilitated IEP meeting: an IEP meeting run by a neutral facilitator who keeps the discussion on track. It is not required by IDEA, so whether one is available, who runs it and how to ask differ by state. CADRE's parent guide to IEP facilitation explains how one works, in 12 languages. Ask the authority Your state's page on Rules and Record says whether the state's sources describe one. Minnesota's notice, for example, lists a facilitated IEP team meeting among its options; California's education department says it does not offer IEP facilitation statewide, though some districts and regions do, according to Rules and Record's California page.
3. The formal routes: mediation, a state complaint, due process
The federal regulations require every state to offer three formal routes. Each is described below as the regulations state it. Your state may add details, timelines and offices; those are on its Rules and Record page, quoted from the state.
Mediation
Mediation is voluntary on the part of both parties, is conducted by a qualified and impartial mediator, and its cost is borne by the state (34 CFR 300.506, mediation). It may not be used to deny or delay a parent's right to a due process hearing. Discussions in mediation are confidential, and an agreement reached is put in writing and signed by both parties. Mediation can be used for any matter under Part B, including before a due process complaint is filed. It is the route where you and the school decide together, with help.
A state complaint
Any organization or individual may file a signed written complaint with the state education agency alleging that a school has violated a requirement of Part B, and the complaint must allege a violation that occurred "not more than one year prior" to the date the complaint is received (34 CFR 300.153, filing a complaint). The state investigates and issues a written decision. The regulation lists what the complaint must contain. Ask the authority Your state's form, office and process are on its page.
A due process complaint and hearing
A parent or the school may file a due process complaint on matters of identification, evaluation, educational placement or the provision of FAPE (34 CFR 300.507, filing a due process complaint). The federal regulation sets the window as a violation that occurred not more than two years before the date the parent or school knew or should have known about the action the complaint is about, or, if the state has an explicit time limit, within the time the state allows. The regulation itself provides for the state's own limit, which is why this manual does not state one window as yours. Read your state's on its page.
A due process hearing is conducted by an impartial hearing officer and ends in a written decision. It is a legal proceeding, with evidence, witnesses and the right to be accompanied by counsel. Before the hearing, unless both sides agree to skip it or use mediation, the school convenes a resolution meeting with the parent and relevant team members, within 15 days of receiving notice of the parent's complaint (34 CFR 300.510, resolution process).
Placement during a due process proceeding ("stay put")
During a due process proceeding, unless the state or school and the parents agree otherwise, the child remains in the current educational placement (34 CFR 300.518). This is often called "stay put," and states may call it "pendency." Two things to notice. It applies during the pendency of a due process proceeding as the regulation states, not to every disagreement or every complaint. And there are separate rules for some discipline situations (section 6). Ask the authority Rules and Record puts each state's placement-during-a-dispute provision at the top of the state's page, because it is one of the first questions an adviser asks.
A state complaint and a due process complaint are formal legal steps with their own requirements and windows. Before filing either, talk to the parent center listed on your state's page, and consider an advocate or an attorney, especially if placement, services or eligibility is at stake.
4. Other disagreements: evaluations, 504 plans, records
An evaluation you disagree with
If you disagree with an evaluation the school did, you may ask for an independent educational evaluation (IEE) at public expense (34 CFR 300.502, IEE). The school must, without unnecessary delay, either make sure an IEE is provided at public expense or file a due process complaint to show its own evaluation is appropriate. A parent is entitled to only one IEE at public expense each time the school conducts an evaluation the parent disagrees with. An evaluation you obtain at your own expense must be considered by the school, if it meets the school's criteria, in any decision about FAPE. Referral and evaluation describes the IEE; whether a particular IEE must be paid for is decided under this regulation by the school or a hearing officer.
A 504 plan
Section 504 has its own procedural safeguards: notice, an opportunity to examine records, an impartial hearing with the parent taking part and the right to counsel, and a review procedure (34 CFR 104.36). Ask the district for its Section 504 procedures and the name of its 504 coordinator. Separately, a complaint of disability discrimination can go to the Office for Civil Rights; its complaint page states the current route.
School records
If you believe information in your child's education records is inaccurate or misleading, you may ask the school to amend it (34 CFR 300.618); if it refuses, you are entitled to a hearing. Complaints about access to or privacy of records under FERPA go to the Student Privacy Policy Office, whose complaint page says a complaint is filed within 180 days of the alleged violation or of when you knew or should have known of it.
5. Where your state's routes are, and whom to call first
Which routes your state offers, what it calls them, which office runs each, and what clocks the state attaches all differ. Pennsylvania splits them across two offices; Texas runs all four of its routes through its education agency; Minnesota adds a conciliation conference. Rules and Record keeps one page per state that quotes each state's own descriptions of its routes, offices and stated timelines, with the date it checked them, and it does not calculate any of them. This manual does not restate them, because states change their documents.
Open your state's page and copy to your state sheet, in the page's words:
- The dispute routes and which office receives each.
- Whether a facilitated IEP meeting is described.
- The parent centers and any parent helpline listed.
- The provision on placement during a dispute, as quoted.
- The timelines as stated, with the source and page.
- The date the page says its sources were last checked, and today's date.
Whom to call first
The first call is usually the parent center listed on your state's page. Parent centers are federally funded to help families of children with disabilities understand the process and their options. They are not the offices that handle complaints, and they are not the school. Some states' sources name a parent helpline as well; Pennsylvania's lists its ConsultLine. If your state's sources name no parent center (Rules and Record records that Texas's sources reviewed name none), the national parent center map lists the centers for every state.
Tell the parent center your one sentence, what you have asked in writing and what the school answered. Ask what the options in your state are for your kind of disagreement, and whether anything about it is time-sensitive.
When an advocate or attorney is the next call
Rules and Record's own wording is a good line to keep: if an outcome could affect your child's placement, services or eligibility, "consider obtaining qualified assistance" before responding, from a parent center listed on your state's page, an advocate or an attorney (Rules and Record). This manual adds three situations where a lawyer's view is worth getting early: a hearing, by either side; a deadline you are not sure of; and a disciplinary removal that could change placement (section 6). Whether to bring help is your choice. No source we found measures whether bringing an advocate changes outcomes.
6. Discipline: removals and the manifestation determination
Discipline has its own rules for a child with a disability, and its timelines are short. This section names them so you recognize them when they happen. It does not prepare you for a contested hearing; that is a parent center's or an attorney's work.
| Situation | What the federal regulation says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Short removal | School personnel may remove a child who violates a code of student conduct for up to 10 consecutive school days, to the extent the same is applied to children without disabilities, and for further separate removals of up to 10 days each in the same school year, as long as they do not amount to a change of placement. | 34 CFR 300.530(b) |
| After 10 school days of removal in a year | The child receives services during later days of removal, so as to continue in the general curriculum and progress toward IEP goals. | 34 CFR 300.530(d) |
| A decision to change placement for a conduct violation | Within 10 school days of the decision, the school, the parent and relevant members of the IEP team review the relevant information to decide whether the conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the disability, or was the direct result of the school's failure to carry out the IEP. This is the manifestation determination. | 34 CFR 300.530(e) |
| Special circumstances | The regulation describes removals to an interim alternative setting for up to 45 school days for weapons, drugs and serious bodily injury, whatever the manifestation finding. | 34 CFR 300.530(g) |
| Notice | On the date of a decision to make a disciplinary change of placement, the school notifies the parents and gives them the procedural safeguards notice. | 34 CFR 300.530(h) |
The full text is in 34 CFR 300.530. The manifestation determination is a meeting, and you are part of it. Bring your observation log and your notes, and ask what information the team is reviewing.
States add their own discipline law for every student, disabled or not: notice and a hearing before an exclusion, what counts as short-term or long-term, what continues during a removal, and how to appeal. Rules and Record's school discipline pages quote each state's statute and regulation, with the questions the state leaves to district policy. Read your state's discipline page the day a removal happens, and call the parent center the same day. Ask the authority CPIR's page on behavior at school explains behavior supports and the functional behavioral assessment, which may come up at the same meeting.
The table quotes the federal regulation. Whether a series of removals amounts to a change of placement, what the manifestation determination should find, and which timelines apply in your state are decided by the school team, your state's rules and, in a disagreement, a hearing officer. A disciplinary removal that could change your child's placement is a time to call the parent center on your state's page, and to consider an attorney, before you respond.
7. The routes compared, and questions for a lawyer Go deeper
The routes side by side
CADRE's Quick Guide to Special Education Dispute Resolution Processes is a two-page chart (revised October 2025, also in Spanish and Arabic) that compares six processes by who starts them, who decides, the role of the third party, the time frame, who pays and how to prepare. The table below is a shorter version built from the federal regulations and Rules and Record's summary of how states describe the routes. Your state's details are on its page.
| Route | Who may start it | Who decides | Cost to the family | What it produces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Facilitated IEP meeting | Parent or school, where offered | The IEP team | Set by the state or district that offers it | A revised IEP, if the team agrees |
| Mediation | Both parties, voluntarily | Parent and school, together | The state bears the cost (34 CFR 300.506) | A written, signed agreement, if reached |
| Resolution meeting | Convened by the school after a parent's due process complaint | Parent and school, together | Not stated in the regulation; ask your state | A written settlement, if reached (34 CFR 300.510) |
| State complaint | Any organization or individual | The state education agency | Not stated in the regulation; ask your state | A written decision (34 CFR 300.153) |
| Due process hearing | Parent or school | An impartial hearing officer | Not stated in the regulation; representation is the family's own arrangement | A written, binding decision (34 CFR 300.507 to 300.518) |
Remedies this manual names and does not explain
Some questions families ask are legal questions about remedies, and this manual routes them out rather than answering them:
- Compensatory services: services to make up for services not provided. Whether they are owed is decided through the routes above.
- IEE reimbursement: whether the school pays for an outside evaluation is decided under 34 CFR 300.502.
- Private placement reimbursement: when parents place a child in a private school because they believe the school did not offer FAPE, whether the school must reimburse them is a legal question with its own conditions (34 CFR 300.148). Talk to an attorney before acting on it.
The resolution meeting in more detail
The resolution meeting (34 CFR 300.510) includes the parents, relevant members of the IEP team and a school representative with decision-making authority. The school may not bring an attorney unless the parent brings one. If the school has not resolved the complaint to the parent's satisfaction within 30 days of receiving it, the hearing may go forward. A written settlement signed at a resolution meeting can be voided by either side within three business days, as the regulation states. The parent and school can agree in writing to skip the meeting or to use mediation instead.
8. See it See it
Priya Natarajan and Arjun, Minnesota. Arjun's IEP lists speech-language services of 30 minutes twice a week. From her service log and the school's notes, Priya counted 7 of 24 sessions not held over 12 weeks during a staff vacancy, and the progress report says "progressing" without numbers. Her written question from After the meeting got a reply that the position is being filled, with no answer on the missed sessions or the data.
Her one sentence: "Since September 2, 7 of 24 scheduled speech sessions have not been held, and I have not received the data behind the progress report."
What she found on Minnesota's page. Rules and Record's Minnesota page quotes the state's notice: a parent who objects to the district's proposal may request a conciliation conference, mediation, a facilitated IEP team meeting or a due process hearing, and any organization or individual may file a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Education. The page quotes the state describing mediation and facilitated meetings as informal, voluntary and at no cost. It lists PACER as the parent center, with its phone number. Priya copied all of this to her state sheet with the page's "last checked" date and her own.
What she did next. She asked in writing for an IEP meeting about the missed sessions and the data, and for prior written notice if the school declined anything she asked. Then she called PACER, the parent center listed on the page, and read them her sentence.
Known: her count, her dated contacts, what Minnesota's page quotes. Assumed: that her count matches the school's session records (she has asked for them). Open: whether the missed time is owed, which is settled through Minnesota's processes, not by Priya's sheet or this manual; which route, if any, fits, which Priya decides after talking with PACER.
Free sources on the routes:
- CADRE Continuum (CADRE): dispute resolution practices from prevention to legal review.
- Quick Guide to Dispute Resolution Processes (CADRE): the routes compared on two pages.
- IEP Facilitation parent guide (CADRE): how a facilitated meeting works.
- Special education, state by state (Rules and Record): your state's routes, offices and parent centers, quoted from the state.
- School discipline (Rules and Record): each state's discipline law for every student.
9. Practice Practice
Minimum: write the one sentence, check your log for a written question, and copy your state's routes and parent center to your state sheet. Time: about 45 minutes, plus a phone call. Materials: your communication log and chronology (After the meeting), your state sheet, your state's Rules and Record page.
- Write the sentence. What the school did or refused, and the date it began. If you have two disagreements, write two sentences.
- Check the record. Is the disagreement in your communication log? Have you asked about it in writing? If not, write the question now and log it.
- Find the rung you are on. Using the ladder table, mark which rungs you have already used (a written question, a request for prior written notice, a meeting).
- Copy your state's routes. From your state's page: the routes and offices, any facilitated meeting, the parent centers, the placement-during-a-dispute provision, the stated timelines with their sources, and the dates.
- Call the parent center. Read them your sentence and what you have asked. Log the call and send yourself a note of what they said.
- Read the comparison chart. (Go deeper; optional.) Read CADRE's quick guide beside your state sheet and note which routes your state's page describes.
10. Your situation Your situation
11. Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does your sentence say what the school did or refused and when, without saying why?
- Is there a written question about it in your log, with a date?
- Does your state sheet show your state's routes and offices in the page's words, with the dates?
- Do you know which parent center your state's page lists, and have you contacted it?
- Have you avoided writing a deadline you worked out yourself?
Worked example
Priya's sentence is factual and dated. Her log shows the written question and the reply. Her state sheet quotes Minnesota's routes and lists PACER, with the page's "last checked" date. She has asked for a meeting and for prior written notice. Nothing on her sheets says the school violated the IEP, that the time is owed or which route she will use; those are not hers or this manual's to decide from a sheet.
Common mistakes
- Starting with why. "The school doesn't care about Arjun" gives no one anything to act on. Say what happened, with dates.
- Counting your own window. Federal windows have a state exception and state windows have their own terms. Read your state's page and ask the parent center.
- Assuming stay put covers every disagreement. It applies during due process proceedings as the regulation states.
- Treating a parent center as a complaint office. It helps families; it does not decide complaints.
- Waiting on discipline. Removal timelines are short; read the discipline page and call the same day.
What is still unresolved
This chapter does not settle your disagreement. It tells you where the options are written and whom to ask. Which route fits, whether a rule was broken and what remedy is available are answered by your state's offices, a hearing officer or a court, with help from a parent center, an advocate or an attorney.