Thirty school days from consent to an offer of FAPE: Michigan’s special education laws under MARSE
MARSE, the Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education, carries IDEA and the Revised School Code into every public agency. Thirty school days from signed consent to an offer of FAPE is the count Michigan most changes. 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.
Michigan’s laws, rule by rule
MARSE, and who it covers
R 340.1701, R 340.1702Rule 1 adopts the federal rules by reference; Rule 2 keeps a student “not more than 25 years of age as of September 1” eligible.
Turning 25 without a diploma keeps the IEP; IDEA would let the state stop earlier.
Two evaluators, one MET report
R 340.1701b(b), R 340.1721aA multidisciplinary evaluation team of at least two people evaluates, recommends eligibility and writes the report the IEP team reads first.
Its presenter explains what the scores mean for instruction; ask for the report beforehand.
Thirty school days, one signature
R 340.1721b(1)(a), (b)Ten school days from a written request to the consent form, then “not more than 30 school days” from consent to an offer of FAPE.
Testing, eligibility and the first IEP share those thirty days; an extension counts only in writing.
The offer, your consent, the start
R 340.1721b(1)(b), (c), (d)The offer arrives seven school days after the team meets; ten school days to sign, and the IEP starts within fifteen.
A later start is allowed only when the IEP itself names the date.
Objectives in every IEP
R 340.1721e(1)(a), R 340.1722Annual goals carry “measurable short-term objectives,” the IEP records an extended school year decision, and one named staff person implements it.
IDEA requires objectives only on alternate assessments; Michigan requires them for everyone, so each goal has checkable steps.
Where a Michigan dispute goes
R 340.1851, 340.1853(7), 340.1724fFiled within one year, a state complaint is investigated with the intermediate school district and decided in sixty calendar days.
The ISD investigates rather than your district; a manifestation finding can go to an administrative law judge.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“The time from receipt of parental consent for an evaluation to the notice of an offer of a free appropriate public education or the determination of ineligibility must not be more than 30 school days. This timeline begins on receipt of the signed parental consent by the public agency requesting the consent.”
R 340.1721b(1)(b)
Your signature, received by the district, opens the count, and a summer break freezes it.
The deadlines Michigan 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Notice and consent form | 10 school days | Your written request in the district’s hands opens it; notice and consent form arrive together.R 340.1721b(1)(a) |
| Consent to an offer of FAPE | 30 school days | Signed consent received by the district opens it; evaluation, eligibility and the first IEP share the one count.R 340.1721b(1)(b) |
| Your consent to services | 10 school days | The offer of FAPE reaching you opens it; no service is delivered before this second signature.R 340.1721b(1)(b) |
| First day of services | 15 school days | Measured from your receipt of the notice or your consent to services, unless the IEP names a later date.R 340.1721b(1)(d) |
| Complaint findings from Lansing | 60 calendar days | Filing opens it, in calendar days, and the filing must land within a year of the violation.R 340.1853(7), R 340.1851(2) |
How a child gets an IEP in Michigan
The building principal, by email
The principal gets a written evaluation request from you; keep the date the school received it.
Consent starts the thirty
It comes with the notice inside ten school days, and your signature is what starts the thirty.
Accept the offer of FAPE
After the IEP team meets, the offer needs a second signature before any service is delivered.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Office of Special Education — MDE’s office in Lansing supervises every public agency, arranges mediation and receives state complaints.
If the school says no
Under MARSE a refusal is the written notice; a tenth school day passing in silence is your record’s first entry.
- Hand the district’s director your delivery date and ask which MARSE notice answers it.
- Filing a state complaint within the year puts the ISD, rather than the district, on the investigation.
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.
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Where this comes from
- MARSE R 340.1721b, public agency timelinesThe words quoted above.
- MDE special education pageOSE’s guidance and forms.
- MDE laws, regulations and the Procedural Safeguards NoticeMichigan’s parent rights notice in full.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.