Accept it in part: Massachusetts’s special education laws under 603 CMR 28
Chapter 71B of the General Laws and the regulations at 603 CMR 28.00 carry IDEA into Massachusetts practice under DESE. The change a parent feels most is the answer: a proposed IEP may be accepted or rejected in part, and accepted parts start at once. 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.
Massachusetts’s laws, rule by rule
Who is an eligible student
CMR 28.02(9), (7)An eligible student has a listed impairment and, as a consequence, is “unable to progress effectively in the general education program” without specially designed instruction.
Needing only a related service to reach the curriculum also qualifies; the Team decides.
Notice, then working-day counts
CMR 28.04(1)(a), 28.05(1)Written notice five school days after your referral; assessments done 30 school working days after consent; the Team convened by 45.
Chapter 71B adds that the notice comes in your home’s primary language.
Accept or reject, in part
CMR 28.05(7)(a), (b)Within thirty days of the proposed IEP’s arrival you accept or reject it, whole or in pieces, or ask for a meeting.
Reject one service and the rest begins; the rejection reaches the BSEA within five days.
Consent, revocation and outside evaluations
CMR 28.07(1)(a), 28.04(5)(c)Written consent precedes the first evaluation and placement, “a parent may revoke consent at any time,” and a publicly funded outside evaluation stays open 16 months.
The district’s share follows a sliding income scale; you may observe any proposed program.
Ten days of removal
PNPS, section 9Beyond ten consecutive days, or a pattern, the Team meets within 10 days on whether the misbehavior “was caused by or had a direct relationship to” the disability.
It also decides whether the IEP was delivered; appeals get an expedited BSEA hearing.
Stay put and the BSEA
CMR 28.08(3), (4), (7)The Bureau of Special Education Appeals “shall conduct mediations and hearings,” mediation is free, and during a dispute the student keeps the current placement.
Complaints about a district’s compliance go to DESE’s Problem Resolution System instead.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“No later than 30 days after receipt of the proposed IEP and proposed placement, the parents shall: Accept or reject the IEP in whole or in part … the school district shall implement all accepted elements of the IEP without delay.”
CMR 28.05(7)(a), (b)
Sign what you agree with, so speech therapy starts while the reading dispute is open.
The deadlines Massachusetts 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Referral answered in writing | 5 school days | Only days students attend school count, from the day the referral reached the district.CMR 28.04(1)(a) |
| Assessments done after consent | 30 days (school working days) | Starts at your written consent; the unit is working days, so vacation weeks add nothing.CMR 28.05(1) |
| Proposed IEP in your hands | 45 days (school working days) | Opens on the same consent date and closes when two copies of the proposed IEP reach you.CMR 28.05(1) |
| Assessment summaries available | 2 days | Owed before the Team meeting, so the scores reach you ahead of it.CMR 28.05(1) |
| Your answer to the proposed IEP | 30 days | Calendar, since 28.02(5) makes an unlabeled day a calendar day; counted from receipt of the IEP.CMR 28.05(7)(a) |
| Rejection forwarded to the BSEA | 5 days | Begins the day the district receives your rejection or hearing request in writing.CMR 28.08(3)(b) |
How a child gets an IEP in Massachusetts
Any parent may refer
A dated letter to the principal describing what you see is enough; no form is required.
Consent rides with the notice
The Evaluation Consent Form rides with the Notice of Proposed School District Action; signing it opens the counts.
Summaries first, then the Team
Summaries reach you two days ahead; the Team then rules on eligibility and hands over its proposal.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Problem Resolution System Office — DESE’s compliance office takes written complaints against a Massachusetts district under 603 CMR 28.
If the school says no
Refusal here rides on the Notice of School District Refusal to Act; silence by day five counts too.
- Ask for that notice in writing, with the records the district relied on.
- Reject a no-eligibility finding and it goes to the BSEA; mediation there is 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
- 603 CMR 28.05: the Team processWhere the quotation lives.
- M.G.L. c. 71B, section 3: the state statuteThe five-day notice statute.
- Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards (DESE)DESE on discipline and the BSEA.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.