Inside R7-2-401: Arizona’s special education laws, fifteen school days and the MET
IDEA, Title 15 of the Revised Statutes and Article 4 of the State Board’s rules govern Arizona special education, under Exceptional Student Services. A cap on waiting is Arizona’s sharpest addition: fifteen school days for the PEA to review data or refuse. Start with the dates in your file: the day the school received your written request, the day you signed consent, and the date on the district’s latest notice.
Arizona’s laws, rule by rule
The PEA and the MET
A.R.S. 15-761Your district or charter is the PEA; a Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team of IEP members and qualified professionals “shall determine whether a child is eligible.”
No single evaluator decides; the MET signs the finding as a group.
Who qualifies under 15-761
A.R.S. 15-761(2)A child with a disability has one of fourteen listed conditions, autism through visual impairment, and “because of the disability, needs special education.”
Missed reading instruction or an English-language background cannot be the determining factor.
Two clocks, PEA and MET
A.A.C. R7-2-401(E)(3), (4)The PEA has “not to exceed 15 school days” to review data or refuse in writing; sixty calendar days from consent end at the MET decision.
Federal law never caps that wait; Arizona stops it at fifteen school days.
Reviews and the graduation warning
A.A.C. R7-2-401(G)(4)(a), (7)A written request naming its basis gets an IEP review inside forty-five school days; a letter comes “at least one year before the anticipated” graduation date.
IDEA dates neither; a diploma ends the IEP, so that letter matters.
Notice, consent and discipline
A.A.C. R7-2-401(F), (I)(2), (P)Informed written consent precedes the first services and can be revoked; notice arrives before any decision is implemented; suspension procedures follow IDEA.
Arizona adds no discipline clock of its own, so cite the federal manifestation rule.
Filing with ESS or OAH
A.A.C. R7-2-405, 405.01, 405.02A state complaint goes to the department and the PEA at once, decided in sixty days; mediation is “voluntary on the part of both parties” and free.
Hearings go before an administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“The initial evaluation … shall be conducted within 60 calendar days from the public education agency’s receipt of the parent’s informed written consent and shall conclude with the date of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET) determination of eligibility.”
A.A.C. R7-2-401(E)(3)
A finished report with no MET meeting has not stopped the count; the decision sits inside the sixty.
The deadlines Arizona sets
School days and calendar days count differently, so read the unit in every row.
| What is being counted | By when | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| The agency’s first response | 15 school days | School days only, counted from the date your written request reached the agency.A.A.C. R7-2-401(E)(4) |
| Evaluation through the MET decision | 60 calendar days | Your consent lands on day zero and the MET determination date closes the count.A.A.C. R7-2-401(E)(3) |
| An agreed written extension | Up to 30 days | Added to the sixty days only by written agreement, so an unsigned delay is no extension.A.A.C. R7-2-401(E)(5) |
| Review of an existing IEP | 45 school days | Your written review request starts it, and the meeting date is one you both agree.A.A.C. R7-2-401(G)(7) |
| Warning before a graduation date | 1 year ahead | Counted back from the graduation date the transition plan estimates, and it reaches you in writing.A.A.C. R7-2-401(G)(4)(a) |
| A decision on your state complaint | 60 calendar days | The department’s clock starts the day your complaint arrives, and the conduct behind it can be one year old.A.A.C. R7-2-405.01(A)(2), (B) |
How a child gets an IEP in Arizona
Two recipients
Send your letter to the principal, copying the PEA’s special education director; contacts are posted online.
Fifteen school days later
The agency reviews existing data or sends prior written notice refusing; both are dated.
Get the MET date
Ask in writing for the MET determination date, the day the sixty days end.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Exceptional Student Services — Exceptional Student Services monitors public education agencies, offers mediation, and issues the written decision on a complaint.
If the school says no
Arizona’s no is prior written notice; a request that drew neither notice nor data review has missed fifteen school days.
- Ask for the data-review meeting’s record and its date; the agency may answer that way.
- Name the fifteenth school day in writing and ask which of the two answers the agency chose.
A refusal arrives in writing under 34 CFR 300.503, naming what was refused and the data behind it.
This page organizes the state’s own words: it does not replace the current rule text, or advice from someone qualified in your state.
Have the pages in your child’s file read back to you, free.
The review reads every page you upload and returns each finding in plain English, with one question for the team and the page it came from.
Review my IEP — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Where this comes from
- Arizona Administrative Code, R7-2-401 to R7-2-405.02Every A.A.C. rule here.
- A.R.S. 15-761, the definitionsCategories and exclusions.
- Exceptional Student Services dispute resolutionWhere complaints are filed.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.