Twenty-five school days and an IEP team override: South Dakota’s special education laws, ARSD 24:05
Article 24:05 of the Administrative Rules holds South Dakota’s special education rules, written under SDCL 13-37 and IDEA. Two linked windows are the state’s own shape: twenty-five school days to evaluate, then thirty more for report, eligibility and IEP meeting. 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 Dakota’s laws, rule by rule
Who may ask, and consent
ARSD 24:05:25:03, 24:05:27:04.01Either “a parent of a child or a school district may initiate a request”; consent to evaluate and to services are separate signatures.
Send the request yourself; a refusal of services cannot be overridden by a hearing.
Eligibility, or an override
ARSD 24:05:24.01:01, 24:05:24.01:31A listed disability, one of thirteen, “which adversely affects educational performance,” plus need; when the usual criteria yield invalid findings, the IEP team may override them in writing.
Every member signs an override, dissent included, and the director keeps a list.
Two windows, then services
ARSD 24:05:25:03, 24:05:27:02Twenty-five school days of testing from consent, then report, eligibility and IEP meeting “within 30 days from the end” of that window.
IDEA counts thirty from eligibility; here they run from the end of testing, sooner.
Five days’ warning
ARSD 24:05:30:04Five days before the district proposes or refuses any change in identification, evaluation or placement, written notice reaches you; you alone may waive the five.
A change starting tomorrow had no five days ahead of it unless you waived them.
A pattern of removals
ARSD 24:05:26:02.01, 24:05:26:09.03Placement changes past ten consecutive school days away, or by a pattern; district, parent and IEP team then meet inside ten school days.
An unimplemented IEP makes the finding manifestation, and the gap is fixed at once.
Complaints to the state director
ARSD 24:05:15:02, :03, :06The state director resolves a signed complaint “within 60 days after receipt,” on a violation under one year old.
File and copy the district the same day; agreeing to mediation extends the sixty.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“Initial evaluations must be completed within 25 school days after receipt by the district of signed parent consent to evaluate unless other timelines are agreed to by the school administration and the parents.”
ARSD 24:05:25:03
School days skip weekends and breaks; the thirty for report, eligibility and IEP meeting run from the last one.
The deadlines South Dakota 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prior written notice before a change | 5 days | Five days before the district acts, waivable by you, so read what you sign.ARSD 24:05:30:04 |
| Testing in school days | 25 school days | The district’s receipt of your signed consent opens the count; another timeline needs the administration’s agreement with you.ARSD 24:05:25:03 |
| Thirty after the window | 30 days | From the end of the evaluation window, with eligibility decided inside these thirty.ARSD 24:05:25:03 |
| Review of a conduct removal | 10 school days | Conduct-removal decision first, then ten school days; a pattern of short removals counts as one.ARSD 24:05:26:09.03, 24:05:26:02.01 |
| Complaint resolved in Pierre | 60 days | The state director’s receipt starts them, with one thirty-day extension for exceptional circumstances.ARSD 24:05:15:06 |
How a child gets an IEP in South Dakota
Your own request, dated
Name the special education director and the principal as recipients; either side may start it.
Signature first, then testing
Once your signed consent reaches the district, twenty-five school days run unless you agree to another timeline.
Thirty days for three things
Written report, eligibility decision and IEP meeting all land inside the thirty that follow.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Special Education Programs, South Dakota Department of Education — The state director of special education, in Pierre, receives written complaints against any district.
If the school says no
Districts here that will not evaluate owe the five-day notice; silence is the harder case.
- Put a second dated request to the special education director and ask which day the first was logged.
- The state director in Pierre takes a signed complaint on the past year; propose the resolution you want in it.
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
- ARSD 24:05:25:03, the timelinesQuoted above in full.
- SD Department of Education: dispute resolutionComplaint forms and logs.
- SD Department of Education: parental rightsThe procedural safeguards notice.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.