Getting the draft IEP and the data before the meeting starts
Ask for the draft pages and the data ahead of time and you read them at your kitchen table instead of across a conference table. Send it the week the notice arrives; no approval, no form and no agreement from the team comes first. You can send it today: paste it into an email, replace what sits in brackets, and write down the day the school received it; the table below says which day starts each clock.
What the rule says
“The agency must comply with a request without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding an IEP … and in no case more than 45 days after the request has been made.”
34 CFR 300.613(a)
The pages the team will work from are education records, so reading them early is a records request.
When to send it
- The meeting notice arrived last week and nothing came with it except a date.
- At last year’s meeting the goals were read aloud from a page you had never seen.
- Somebody mentioned a change of placement on the phone and put none of it in writing.
What happens after you send it
| What is being counted | By when | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Records in hand | 45 days | Sooner when a meeting is booked, since the rule puts the records ahead of it.34 CFR 300.613(a) |
| Draft pages arrive | Set by your state | Nothing federal governs a draft, so look to your state and to district practice.34 CFR 300.322(a)(1) |
| Your next annual review | 12 months | The team looks at the IEP at least yearly, which is the meeting you are preparing for.34 CFR 300.324(b)(1) |
What the letter has to contain
The meeting date itself
A request carrying no date drifts to the bottom of a pile. The date is what makes it urgent.
The district answers a records request ahead of an IEP meeting. 34 CFR 300.613(a)
Each document by name
Ask for everything and you get a shrug back. Ask for the service page and somebody prints it.
You may inspect the records behind evaluation and placement decisions. 34 CFR 300.501(a)
Your own concerns, early
Sent the day before, your concerns become an agenda item rather than an interruption of somebody’s script.
You take part in the meetings where evaluation and placement get decided. 34 CFR 300.501(b)(1)
What you want in return
Naming the format keeps the answer from arriving as a phone call you cannot quote afterward.
You may ask for copies when inspecting them in person would not work. 34 CFR 300.613(b)(2)
The letter
Replace everything in brackets. The rest sends as it stands.
- To
- The chair of the meeting, plus the front office
- Subject
- Records and draft pages before the [Meeting date] IEP meeting
Dear [Case manager], The IEP meeting for [Child’s first name] is set for [Meeting date]. Before then, please send me whatever the team will have in front of it. What I am asking for: • any draft goals or draft service pages written so far • the progress data behind those goals, in whatever form it is kept • [the evaluation report, the behavior data, or the therapist’s notes] you plan to reference • the names and roles of everyone who will sit at the table My own concerns, for the record: [what you would like the team to take up, in two or three lines]. Reading the pages first lets me arrive with questions rather than reactions, and it keeps the hour on the parts that are still open. If something on this list cannot come, please tell me which item and why, under 34 CFR 300.503. Many thanks, [Your name] [Email] [Today’s date]
If no answer comes back
Nothing federal counts this wait, so use your state’s number, starting the day you sent it.
- Have the office note the date your request reached the case manager.
- Reply to the meeting notice itself, listing the documents again by name.
- Ask at the meeting for the pages to be read into the notes, item by item.
A no owes you prior written notice: the decision, the reason for it, and the records behind it (34 CFR 300.503).
This is a template, not legal advice: it does not replace your state’s procedures, or advice from someone qualified to read your file.
Have the pages you are writing about read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload, names the wording that is vague or missing, and gives you its page number.
Review my IEP — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Where this comes from
- Access to records (34 CFR 300.613)The sentence quoted here.
- Parent participation (34 CFR 300.322)How the meeting is set.
- Center for Parent Information and Resources: the IEP meetingWhat happens in the room.
- Prior written notice (34 CFR 300.503)What a no owes you.
Response deadlines are set state by state, and the state pages carry each number with its rule.