Anyone’s written referral: Wisconsin’s special education laws, chapter 115 and PI 11

Wisconsin’s laws, rule by rule

1. Ten impairments and a need

   Wis. Stat. 115.76(5)(a), (b)

   Ten impairments are listed, from cognitive disabilities to learning disabilities; the child qualifies only if, “by reason of” one, special education is needed.

   Significant developmental delay counts only at the LEA’s option; the IEP team decides.

2. A written referral from anyone

   Wis. Stat. 115.777(1)(c), (2)(a), (3)(e)

   Anyone who reasonably believes a child has a disability may refer in writing; the consent request follows “within 15 business days.”

   The letter needs your child’s name and your reasons; the count starts at receipt.

3. Consent to eligibility to placement

   Wis. Stat. 115.78(3)(a), (3)(c)

   The IEP team determines eligibility within 60 days of the LEA receiving consent, then meets to write the IEP “and determine a placement” within 30 days.

   One team evaluates, writes the IEP and decides placement; no second committee waits behind it.

4. Prior written notice and records

   Wis. Stat. 115.792(1)(a)1., (1)(b)

   Prior notice precedes each proposal or refusal touching evaluation, placement or FAPE; parents may “examine all records relating to the child.”

   Ask for the file before the team meets; an independent evaluation is on the list too.

5. The hearing clock runs one year

   Wis. Stat. 115.80(1)(a)1., (2m)(a)

   A parent “may file a written request for a hearing within one year after the refusal or proposal”; a resolution meeting follows within 15 days.

   Half of IDEA’s window, so the date on the notice you disagree with is the one to keep.

6. WSEMS and the Special Needs Scholarship

   Wis. Stat. 115.797(2)(b)2., 115.7915(2)(d)

   WSEMS mediation is voluntary; the Special Needs Scholarship pays a private school for a child with “an individualized education program or services plan” in effect.

   DPI decides a written IDEA complaint in sixty days; the scholarship needs your district’s IEP.

What the rule says

The state wrote it this way:

“The local educational agency shall determine if a child is a child with a disability within 60 days after the local educational agency receives parental consent for the evaluation of the child …”

Wis. Stat. 115.78(3)(a)

Eligibility, not services, is what day sixty buys; the IEP and placement get thirty more days.

The deadlines Wisconsin sets

School days and calendar days count differently, so read the unit in every row.

How a child gets an IEP in Wisconsin

1. Letter to the district

   Address the special education director; name your child and why you suspect a disability.

2. Consent inside the fifteen

   The consent request arrives inside fifteen business days; signing starts the sixty days to eligibility.

3. Sit on the IEP team

   You are a member, and one meeting writes the IEP and sets the placement.

The evaluation request letter writes step one for you, in the words a district answers.

DPI Special Education Team — DPI’s special education team in Madison investigates complaints; WSEMS mediates at no cost to families.

If the school says no

A written referral in Wisconsin gets one of two papers back: consent request or refusal notice.

• Nothing by business day fifteen is itself a fact; write again and quote the referral date.
• Take a refusal notice to WSEMS or file the IDEA complaint; the hearing clock is one year.

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.

Where this comes from

• Wis. Stat. 115.78, the IEP teamSection 115.78, read verbatim.
• Wis. Stat. 115.80, hearingsThe one-year hearing clock.
• DPI dispute resolution optionsComplaints and WSEMS.
• The federal evaluation rule (34 CFR 300.301)The floor every state builds on.