Eighty calendar days and an Eligibility Committee: West Virginia’s special education laws in Policy 2419
Policy 2419, the State Board’s legislative rule at 126CSR16, folds IDEA and West Virginia Code 18-20 into one county manual. West Virginia’s own count is eighty calendar days, from your documented consent to the Eligibility Committee’s decision. 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.
West Virginia’s laws, rule by rule
Policy 2419 and exceptionalities
Policy 2419, §126-16-1, §126-16-4Policy 2419 reaches students with disabilities aged three through twenty-one and gifted students, because here an exceptionality includes giftedness.
The Department of Education enforces it; your county board of education is the LEA.
The SAT and the referral
Policy 2419, ch. 2, §3.DWithin ten school days of your written request the student assistance team decides whether to evaluate; PWN and the safeguards follow within five days.
SAT problem-solving may not delay an evaluation “where immediate action is warranted”; get it in writing.
The eighty-day count to eligibility
Policy 2419, ch. 3, §2.A; ch. 4, §1From the documented consent date the county has eighty calendar days to finish evaluating and convene the Eligibility Committee.
Every evaluator’s signed report is due inside that same count; the three-prong test then decides.
Notice, eight days and PWN
Policy 2419, ch. 10, §3.B, §4Any EC or IEP meeting is noticed “no less than eight days prior”; PWN comes five days before a change or five days after a refusal.
A disciplinary removal is the exception: its notice is owed the same day.
Twenty-one days for a requested meeting
Policy 2419, ch. 5, §1.CAn IEP follows within thirty days of initial eligibility, and a parent’s written request convenes the IEP Team within twenty-one days or draws PWN within five.
No federal clock answers a parent’s meeting request; West Virginia sets one.
Manifestation, state complaints, hearings
Policy 2419, ch. 7, §2; ch. 11, §2, §4The manifestation determination follows a placement-changing removal by ten school days; WVDE decides a state complaint within sixty days, and due process looks two years back.
Facilitated IEP, mediation and state complaint requests all start on WVDE’s forms.
What the rule says
The state wrote it this way:
“Within 80 calendar days of the documented date, the LEA must conduct a full, individual initial evaluation and convene an eligibility committee (EC) to determine the student’s eligibility for special education …”
Policy 2419, ch. 3, §2.A
The documented date is the day the principal logs your consent, so ask what was written down.
The deadlines West 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 |
|---|---|---|
| The SAT decides | 10 school days | From the SAT’s receipt of your written request; problem-solving may not stall it.Policy 2419, ch. 2, §3.D.2 |
| Eligibility Committee convened | 80 calendar days | From the date the school documents your consent and forwards it to the director.Policy 2419, ch. 3, §2.A |
| Initial IEP in place | 30 days | After the EC finds the student eligible and before any service begins.Policy 2419, ch. 5, §1.C.1 |
| Team meets on written request | 21 days | Runs from your written request to the IEP Team; a refusal needs PWN within five days.Policy 2419, ch. 5, §1.C.4 |
| Notice before any meeting | 8 days | Eight days back from the EC or IEP meeting date; it names who the county sends.Policy 2419, ch. 10, §4 |
| WVDE’s complaint decision | 60 days | After filing, reaching back one year; early resolution inside fifteen days ends it.Policy 2419, ch. 11, §2 |
How a child gets an IEP in West Virginia
Refer through the SAT
Address the principal, who chairs or names the student assistance team, and ask for an evaluation.
Expect the SAT’s answer
Ten school days later the team says yes or no; PWN and safeguards follow inside five days.
Consent gets a date
Eighty calendar days run to the EC from whatever date the school logs for that signature.
The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.
Office of Special Education, WVDE — Charleston’s Office of Special Education receives state complaints, mediation and Facilitated IEP requests, and explains Policy 2419.
If the school says no
The SAT’s PWN is the no; a request with nothing back after ten school days is a date to write down.
- Read the PWN for the data behind it and ask whether problem-solving deferred an evaluation that warranted immediate action.
- Name the day your letter reached the school when you write the county special education director for the SAT’s determination.
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
- Policy 2419, filed with the Secretary of StateRule text, quoted above.
- WVDE: special education policies and standardsCurrent policy and safeguards.
- WVDE: dispute resolution formsEvery dispute route’s form.
- The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.