Virginia’s IEP rules, section by section: what 8VAC20-81 adds to IDEA
Virginia’s special education rules are IDEA plus chapter 8VAC20-81 of the Virginia Administrative Code, which the Department of Education enforces. Its biggest change is the count: 65 business days to decide eligibility, from the administrator’s receipt of the referral rather than your signature. 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.
Virginia’s laws, rule by rule
Who Virginia calls eligible
8VAC20-81-10; 8VAC20-81-80 D 9One of twelve named conditions plus a need for special education; needing “only a related service and not special education” is out.
The eligibility group includes you and owes you a written summary of its basis.
Referral to one desk
8VAC20-81-60 A, B 1 g; 50 D 4 aAnyone refers a child “aged two to 21, inclusive” to the special education administrator; that receipt starts the count, and interventions may not needlessly delay it.
IDEA begins at three; Virginia starts at two and forbids intervention delay.
Notice and a second opinion
8VAC20-81-170 C 1, B 2 aThe division gives written notice before it proposes or refuses a change; disagree with its evaluation and you may ask for one “at public expense.”
A refusal you only heard has not happened; ask for the notice.
The draft before the meeting
8VAC20-81-110 B 2 b, E 8The IEP is developed within 30 calendar days of eligibility; any draft the division uses reaches you “at least two business days in advance.”
No federal rule promises the draft; ask for it the day the meeting is set.
Manifestation after a removal
8VAC20-81-160 D 2, D 4Inside ten school days of a removal decision, the IEP team asks whether the behavior came from the disability or a “failure to implement the child’s IEP.”
Bring the service logs; the team must say whether the division kept its IEP.
Complaint, mediation, hearing
8VAC20-81-200 D 4 c; 190 D 3; 210 E 1The department resolves a valid written complaint in “60 calendar days,” pays for mediation, and due process may look back two years.
Mediation is voluntary and free; the ombudsman answers before anything is filed.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“Ensure that all evaluations are completed and that decisions about eligibility are made within 65 business days of the receipt of the referral by the special education administrator or designee …”
8VAC20-81-60 B 1 g
Finished assessments do not close this count; the eligibility decision belongs inside it too.
The deadlines Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator acts on a referral | 3 business days | The administrator’s receipt starts them; a denial arrives as prior written notice.8VAC20-81-50 D 3 b |
| School-based team meets | 10 business days | A referral left at the school reaches the administrator only after this meeting.8VAC20-81-50 D 5 a |
| Evaluations done, eligibility decided | 65 business days | That same receipt starts it, and a school-based team review runs inside it.8VAC20-81-60 B 1 g |
| Evaluation report in your hands | 2 business days before | Measured back from the eligibility meeting; a Monday meeting means the Thursday before.8VAC20-81-70, subsection D |
| Eligibility to a written IEP | 30 calendar days | Calendar days from the eligibility finding; implementation still waits on your signed consent.8VAC20-81-110 B 2 b |
| Draft IEP sent ahead | 2 business days ahead | Counted back from the IEP meeting, and only when the division uses a draft.8VAC20-81-110 E 8 |
| State complaint answered | 60 calendar days | From the department’s receipt of a valid complaint about the past year.8VAC20-81-200 D 4 c, B 6 |
How a child gets an IEP in Virginia
Name the administrator
Email the special education administrator, use the word referral, and keep the send date.
Return consent the same week
The administrator acts within three business days; your signed consent then lets testing begin.
The report arrives early
The evaluation report is yours two business days before the eligibility group meets.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Parent Ombudsman for Special Education — Virginia’s Department of Education keeps a neutral ombudsman for parents; reaching one takes no form.
If the school says no
Silence is measurable here: the administrator owed you one of three answers inside three business days.
- Ask which of the three moves was made, and when the referral was received.
- Past the date, ask which exception or written extension the division is counting on.
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
- 8VAC20-81-60, referral for initial evaluationThe quoted rule.
- 8VAC20-81-110, the IEP and its meetingsThe draft rule.
- Virginia Department of Education: special educationOffice and forms.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.