What South Carolina adds to IDEA: Regulation 43-243 and the two clocks it sets
Regulation 43-243 is South Carolina’s rule: it adopts IDEA whole and sends the deadlines to the department’s Policies. Its two clocks are what matter: 60 days of evaluation from consent, then 15 days to the eligibility ruling. 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.
South Carolina’s laws, rule by rule
What 43-243 hands to IDEA
Regulation 43-243, I and IIRegulation 43-243 adopts IDEA whole, “further delineates state-specific requirements,” and leaves the clocks to Policies on the department’s website.
The numbers you can hold a district to sit in the Policies; cite both documents.
Entry criteria, 43-243.1
Regulation 43-243.1, AThe Criteria for Entry keep the federal categories, require credentialed examiners, and bar any single procedure “as the sole criterion.”
A diagnosis with no instructional need opens no door; ask which components the multidisciplinary team gathered.
Verification closes the count
SC Policies, §§ 300.301, 300.306The evaluation runs 60 days from consent and ends at verification of a complete file; the ruling follows “within 15 days” of that.
Verification starts the fifteen days; the IEP meeting has its own thirty calendar days after that.
Notice, free mediation, one investigator
SC Policies, §§ 300.503, 300.506, 300.152Notice precedes a proposed or refused change by “a reasonable amount of time”; the SCDE pays for mediation; complaints are resolved within 60 calendar days.
The complaint reaches your district and the department the same day; an investigator decides it independently.
Discipline past ten school days
SC Policies, § 300.530(d), (e)More than ten consecutive school days out, or a pattern of shorter removals, changes placement; the manifestation meeting follows within 10 school days.
The school notifies you the day it decides the removal, so date that notice.
Transition at thirteen, September first
Regulation 43-243, III.G and III.CTransition goals start with the first IEP in effect at age 13, tied to the Individualized Graduation Plan; turning 21 after September 1 earns the year.
IDEA opens transition at sixteen and leaves the final year open; South Carolina fixes both.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“The initial evaluation must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for evaluation. Verification that all necessary information has been gathered to determine eligibility signals the conclusion of an evaluation.”
SC Policies and Procedures, § 300.301
Testing finished is not evaluation finished; the gap is where a South Carolina file stalls.
The deadlines South Carolina 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation, from your signed consent | 60 days | It opens when the district has your consent, and a sign-off on the complete file closes it.SC Policies, § 300.301 |
| The eligibility ruling | 15 days | The verification date starts it, and that date can arrive before the last report is written.SC Policies, § 300.306 |
| The IEP is written | 30 calendar days | Eligibility day is where these run from, and services still wait on a separate consent you sign.Process Guide, 34 CFR § 300.323 |
| Transition goals in the IEP | by 13 years old | The first IEP in effect after your child turns thirteen carries them, and each one after that.Regulation 43-243, section III.G |
| The Part C handoff | 90 calendar days ahead | The infant-toddler program sends it, counting back from the third birthday rather than forward from a referral.SC Policies, § 300.124 |
| What the complaint returns | 60 calendar days | Both your district and the department must hold it before these days run, reaching back one year.SC Policies, §§ 300.152, 300.153 |
How a child gets an IEP in South Carolina
Write to a named person
Each district sets its own referral route; yours goes to the principal and the special education director.
The day consent lands
The sixty days begin the day anyone at the district holds your signed consent form.
Watch for the verification
The count ends when the district verifies it has everything; ask who signs that off.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Office of Special Education Services — Mediation, due process and the written state complaint begin at this office in the education department.
If the school says no
South Carolina asks a district only to answer within a reasonable period, so silence is the usual failure.
- Each South Carolina district writes its own referral rule; ask for that rule and the date yours arrived.
- With no answer, name the reasonable period the department’s guide sets and ask what happened.
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
- South Carolina’s Policies and Procedures under IDEASouth Carolina’s adopted state policy.
- Special Education Process Guide for South CarolinaHow the department reads 43-243.
- Code of Regulations, Chapter 4343-243 and 43-243.1 in full.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.