Katrina: Is the school required to provide a copy of the proposed IEP before the IEP meeting if the parent requests it?
IEPs: PARENT REQUEST FOR COPY OF PROPOSED IEP
Special Education Law and Advocacy
Katrina: When the US Dept of Ed published the regulations to implement IDEA in 2006, they also published an “Analysis of Comments and Changes” (“Commentary”) that describes their positions on issues. (Federal Register, Volume 71, pages 46540-46845).
Here is what the Commentary says about draft IEPs
“We do not encourage public agencies to prepare a draft IEP prior to the IEP Team meeting, particularly if doing so would inhibit a full discussion of the child’s needs.
“However, if a public agency develops a draft IEP prior to the IEP Team meeting, the agency should make it clear to the parents at the outset of the meeting that the services proposed by the agency are preliminary recommendations for review and discussion with the parents.
“The public agency also should provide the parents with a copy of its draft proposals, if the agency has developed them, prior to the IEP Team meeting so as to give the parents an opportunity to review the recommendations of the public agency prior to the IEP Team meeting, and be better able to engage in a full discussion of the proposals for the IEP. It is not permissible for an agency to have the final IEP completed before an IEP Team meeting begins. (FR 46678)”
You can read this for yourself on page 46678 of the Federal Register. It’s clear and makes sense. You can download and make copies for your child’s IEP team from this page: https://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/comment/46661-46688.reg.320-328.ieps.pdf
We wrote an article about parents’ right to draft IEPs. You can read it here: https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/iep.draft.auth.htm
Different states have various rules about this, so you will want to contact your district’s special education director or state department of public instruction to obtain the correct answer.