The safety net, OSPI and a community complaint: Washington’s rules for students eligible for special education
Every Washington school district follows IDEA through Chapter 392-172A WAC, the rules OSPI writes for students eligible for special education services. Summer never counts here: an evaluation has thirty-five school days from consent, and breaks pause the clock instead of spending it. 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.
Washington’s laws, rule by rule
Who counts as eligible
WAC 392-172A-01035(1)(a)Thirteen categories, then a second test: “because of the disability and adverse educational impact,” the student needs special education beyond general classes.
The evaluation group has to write down the adverse impact, so ask where the report shows it.
Referral, consent, school days
WAC 392-172A-03005(2)(c), (3)(a)A referral gets a decision “within twenty-five school days after receipt of the request”; signed consent then buys thirty-five school days to decide eligibility.
Both clocks skip weekends and breaks, and stretching either one takes your written agreement.
Eligibility group and IEP meeting
WAC 392-172A-03040(1), 03105(2)(a)Qualified professionals and the parent together determine eligibility, the report comes “at no cost,” and an IEP meeting follows within thirty days.
Parents sit on the group that decides, and the thirty-day clock runs in plain days.
Conduct removals and the IEP
WAC 392-172A-05146(1)When conduct changes placement, the district, the parent and IEP team members get ten school days to answer both manifestation questions.
Washington’s second question is “the direct result of the school district’s failure to implement the IEP,” so bring the service log.
OSPI’s dispute routes
WAC 392-172A-05025 to 05080A written, signed community complaint goes to OSPI, which answers within sixty days; OSPI also supplies the mediator, and a hearing request has a two-year window.
OSPI decides the community complaint itself and supplies the mediator, free to both sides.
The safety net
RCW 28A.150.392(1), (2)(b)The legislature funds “safety net awards” for districts whose legitimate special education spending exceeds available revenues, including the extraordinary cost of a single student’s program.
The award follows the IEP already written; cost is the district’s claim on OSPI, never your child’s plan.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“… arrive at a decision regarding eligibility within: … Thirty-five school days after the date written consent for an evaluation has been provided to the school district by the parent …”
WAC 392-172A-03005(3)(a)
Testing, the report and the eligibility ruling all land inside the same thirty-five school days.
The deadlines Washington 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Referral reviewed, decision made | 25 school days | Runs in school days from the referral’s arrival, so a winter break pauses it.WAC 392-172A-03005(2)(c) |
| Evaluating, from consent | 35 school days | Extensions need your documented agreement; otherwise thirty-five school days run once your signature has reached the district office.WAC 392-172A-03005(3)(a), (3)(c) |
| IEP meeting, plain days | 30 days | Plain days from the eligibility determination; the rule says thirty with no school-day qualifier.WAC 392-172A-03105(2)(a) |
| Discipline file reviewed jointly | 10 school days | The district’s choice to change placement starts it, whatever day the removal itself began.WAC 392-172A-05146(1) |
| Community complaint answered by OSPI | 60 days | OSPI’s receipt date starts the sixty; the complaint may reach only a year into the past.WAC 392-172A-05030(7), 05025(2)(d) |
| Hearing request filed with OSPI | 2 years | The window opens on the parent’s knowledge of the action, actual or reasonably expected.WAC 392-172A-05080(2) |
How a child gets an IEP in Washington
Date a referral note
Anyone who knows your child may refer; send the principal a dated note listing your concerns.
Hand back the signed form
The date it reaches the district opens the thirty-five school days, so keep a copy.
Check the report against your letter
It arrives free with the eligibility decision; mark every concern you raised and whether it was assessed.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
OSPI Special Education — Olympia’s special education division receives community complaints, runs mediation and publishes the safeguards notice.
If the school says no
Past school day twenty-five with no letter, the referral decision is late, and in Washington that decision arrives as prior written notice.
- Give the principal your referral’s arrival date and request the decision notice the rule promises.
- A community complaint to OSPI cites the rule and the date; OSPI answers inside sixty days.
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
- WAC 392-172A-03005: referral and evaluation timelinesThe thirty-five school days quoted above.
- OSPI special education, the state agency pageForms, guidance and the office’s contacts.
- OSPI: parent and student rights (procedural safeguards)Washington’s safeguards notice, in full.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.