Procedural Safeguards Notice

ConsultLine personnel are available to parents and advocates of children with disabilities or child thought to be disabled to explain federal and state laws relating to special education; describe the options that are available to parents; inform the parents of procedural safeguards; identify other agencies and support services; anddescribe available remedies and how the parents can proceed.

Additional Resources appear at the end of this notice.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Federal law concerning the education of students with disabilities, requires the Local Education Agency (LEA) to provide parents of a child with a disability with this notice containing a full explanation of the procedural safeguards available under the IDEA and the U.S. Department of Education regulations. A copy of this notice must be given to parents only once a school year, or:

(1) upon initial referral or parent request for evaluation; (2) upon filing by parents of their first State complaint under 34 CFR §§300.151 through 300.153 and upon filing by parents of their first due process complaint under §300.507 in a school year; (3) when a decision is made to take a disciplinary action that constitutes a change of placement; and (4) upon parent request. [34 CFR §300.504(a)]

This procedural safeguards notice must include a full explanation of all of the procedural safeguards available under §300.148 (unilateral placement at private school at public expense), §§300.151 through 300.153 (State complaint procedures), §300.300 (consent), §§300.502 through 300.503, §§300.505 through 300.518, and §§300.530 through 300.536 (procedural safeguards in Subpart E of the Part B regulations), and §§300.610 through 300.625 (confidentiality of information provisions in Subpart F). This model form provides a format that LEAs may choose to use to provide information about procedural safeguards to parents.