Sixty calendar days that skip the summer: Pennsylvania’s special education laws in Chapter 14
Chapter 14 of the Pennsylvania Code carries IDEA here, adopting the federal regulations by reference and adding the state’s own sections. Sixty calendar days is the change: from written consent to the Evaluation Report, with summer uncounted. 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.
Pennsylvania’s laws, rule by rule
Chapter 14 and eligibility
22 Pa. Code § 14.102(a)(1), (a)(2)Chapter 14 adopts the federal rules “by incorporation by reference,” 34 CFR 300.8’s disability definition among them, then adds Pennsylvania’s own sections.
Eligibility is a listed condition plus a need for tailored instruction; the ER records both.
The Permission to Evaluate clock
22 Pa. Code § 14.123(b), (c), (d)A spoken request earns the Permission to Evaluate form within ten calendar days; from written consent the ER is due in sixty, summer “will not be counted.”
It reaches you ten school days before the IEP team meets; only your written waiver shortens that.
IEP placement and implementation
22 Pa. Code § 14.131(a)(1), (a)(6)Before any other setting the IEP team “must first consider the regular classroom” with supplementary aids; the finished IEP starts within ten school days.
Federal law leaves the start open; the state closes it, and the NOREP carries your answer.
Suspensions that change placement
22 Pa. Code § 14.143(a), (b)Exclusion for “more than 15 cumulative school days in a school year” is a change of placement; for an intellectual disability any removal counts.
The federal trigger is a pattern the district judges; Pennsylvania’s is arithmetic, so keep every slip.
ODR, mediation and hearings
22 Pa. Code § 14.162(b), (e), (q)(2)A parent disputing identification, evaluation or placement may request “an oral, personal hearing,” decided within 45 days after the resolution session fails.
Signed complaints go to the Bureau of Special Education; ODR runs free mediation and the hearings.
ESY dates for severe disabilities
22 Pa. Code § 14.132(d)(2), (d)(3)For students with severe disabilities the ESY review meeting happens “no later than February 28” and the NOREP issues by March 31.
Dates no federal rule sets: for that group, summer is decided before spring.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“The initial evaluation shall be completed and a copy of the evaluation report presented to the parents no later than 60-calendar days after the agency receives written parental consent for evaluation …”
22 Pa. Code § 14.123(b)
The count opens when the district holds your signed Permission to Evaluate; summer is off the calendar.
The deadlines Pennsylvania 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Permission to Evaluate after asking aloud | 10 calendar days | From the day you asked a teacher or administrator out loud; the form is the consent.22 Pa. Code § 14.123(c) |
| ER presented to the parents | 60 calendar days | Your signed consent in the district’s hands is day zero; days between spring and fall terms drop out.22 Pa. Code § 14.123(b) |
| ER lead time before the team meets | 10 school days ahead | Measured back from the IEP team meeting date; only a waiver you sign shortens it.22 Pa. Code § 14.123(d) |
| Initial IEP after eligibility | 30 days | From the eligibility determination, as PDE reads the federal rule for Pennsylvania districts.PDE Q&A on 34 CFR 300.323(c)(1) |
| IEP put into practice | 10 school days | Begins at the IEP’s completion date, after your consent to initial services on the NOREP.22 Pa. Code § 14.131(a)(6) |
How a child gets an IEP in Pennsylvania
Principal and director, in writing
Cite Chapter 14 in a dated letter, with a copy to whoever directs special education for the district.
Return the Permission to Evaluate
Signing that form is your consent; the count of sixty calendar days starts on its return.
Study the ER, then the NOREP
Mark every score you want explained; on the NOREP that follows, approve or decline.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Bureau of Special Education — PDE’s bureau in Harrisburg takes signed complaints; its ConsultLine answers parents’ questions by phone.
If the school says no
No in Pennsylvania is a NOREP; no form ten calendar days after asking aloud is the quieter refusal.
- Put the request in writing to the principal, naming the day you asked, and keep a copy.
- Mark the NOREP not approved and ask ODR for mediation, which costs you nothing.
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.
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Where this comes from
- 22 Pa. Code § 14.123: evaluationThe rule quoted above, summer pause included.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education: special educationThe bureau’s guidance and forms.
- PDE: state complaints and dispute resolutionComplaints, ConsultLine, ODR mediation and hearings.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.