Bulletins 1706 and 1508: Louisiana’s special education laws, exceptionality included
Louisiana stacks two state bulletins on IDEA: 1706, the regulations, and 1508, the Pupil Appraisal Handbook. The word Louisiana changes is exceptionality, which reaches gifted and talented children IDEA never covers. 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.
Louisiana’s laws, rule by rule
Exceptionality, the state’s word
Bulletin 1706, §905A “student with an exceptionality” has one that significantly affects educational performance and needs special education; the list reaches gifted and talented.
IDEA never reaches giftedness; here a gifted child carries an IEP too.
SBLC, RTI and pupil appraisal
Bulletin 1508, §303The SBLC (principal, classroom teacher and referring teacher) reviews RTI data and may refer to pupil appraisal “if an exceptionality is suspected.”
Its file shows graphed progress through the tiers, weak instruction ruled out.
Your letter and your consent
Bulletin 1706, §§301.A.4, 302.CThe LEA has “not longer than 10 business days” to ask for consent or refuse in writing; the evaluation runs within sixty business days of consent.
Business days skip weekends; with your permission the count parks from June to September.
Prior notice, independent evaluations
Bulletin 1706, §§504.A, 503.BNotice comes “no less than ten days” before a proposed or refused change; an independent evaluation request gets fifteen business days: fund it or file for hearing.
Federal law sets no clock on the second opinion; Louisiana names one.
Discipline under §530
Bulletin 1706, §530.A, E, GOnce removals pass ten school days, a conduct placement change sends you and the LEA to a manifestation review “within 10 school days of any decision.”
Drugs, weapons or serious injury let the school move your child regardless; get the record.
The ERP and the formal complaint
Bulletin 1706, §§151, 153.E, 507.A.2Informal complaints go to your LEA’s early resolution representative; formal ones to the LDOE are decided “within 60 days of receipt”; hearings reach back two years.
A written ERP agreement is enforceable in court; the LDOE decides formal ones alone.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“Special education and related services referrals and evaluations should not be delayed or denied based solely on the required movement through tiered intervention prior to referral.”
Bulletin 1508, LAC 28:CI.301(B)
Teams still say to finish the tiers first; this line is what you name when they do.
The deadlines Louisiana 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Your letter gets an answer | 10 business days | They start at the district’s receipt and skip weekends, because Louisiana counts business days here.Bulletin 1706, §301.A.4 |
| Testing through the written report | 60 business days | It runs from the consent you signed, in business days, and both of the extensions need your agreement.Bulletin 1508, §511.A |
| Asking for an outside evaluation at public expense | 15 business days | Disagreeing with the district’s testing is what earns it, and public money covers one outside evaluation each time.Bulletin 1706, §503.B |
| The draft IEP you ask for | 3 business days | Requesting it is what starts this one, and the three days run backward off the meeting.Bulletin 1706, §322.F |
| IEP and placement document | 30 calendar days | It opens when pupil appraisal hands the report to the special education administrator, not when you receive it.Bulletin 1530, §105.A |
| Services actually begin | 10 school days | Development of the IEP starts this count; ask which day each service was first delivered.Bulletin 1706, §323.C.2 |
| Early resolution period | 15 calendar days | Filing with your district’s representative opens it, and the state stays out of that fifteen.Bulletin 1706, §151.C.3 |
How a child gets an IEP in Louisiana
Principal first
Address it to the principal; no SBLC referral reaches pupil appraisal without that signature on it.
What comes back
A consent form to sign, or a written refusal you can quote later.
Read the integrated report
It carries any dissenting opinion, and its findings are explained aloud on request before the meeting.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
LDOE Special Education Ombudsman — Confidential and neutral, it answers non-legal questions from parents, and reaching it needs no paperwork.
If the school says no
Here the refusal is often no answer at all; ten business days is when that becomes a date.
- Ask the SBLC for its file: the intervention graphs, the dates, and the decision it recorded.
- When both sides agree, the department sends a trained neutral to the IEP meeting free.
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
- Bulletin 1508, the Pupil Appraisal HandbookSBLC and evaluation.
- Bulletin 1706, the special education regulationsConsent, notice, complaints.
- Bulletin 1530, Louisiana’s IEP HandbookWhat follows the evaluation.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.