QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON IDEA PART B
DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURES
Revised July 2013
Regulations for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) were published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2006, and became effective on October 13, 2006. Supplemental IDEA regulations were published on December 1, 2008, and became effective on December 31, 2008. Since publication of the regulations, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education (Department) has received requests for clarification of some of these regulations. This is one of a series of question and answer (Q&A) documents prepared by OSERS to address some of the most important issues raised by requests for clarification on a variety of high-interest topics. Each Q&A document will be updated to add new questions and answers as other important issues arise or to amend existing questions and answers as needed.
OSERS issues this Q&A document to provide parents, parent training and information centers, school personnel, State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), advocacy organizations, and other interested parties with information to facilitate appropriate implementation of the IDEA dispute resolution procedures, including mediation, State complaint procedures, and due process complaint and due process hearing procedures. This Q&A document represents the Department’s current thinking on these topics. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person. This guidance does not impose any requirements beyond those required under applicable law and regulations. Further, this document pertains only to IDEA Part B and is not meant to interpret Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
This Q&A document updates and revises, as appropriate, the Department’s guidance, entitled Questions and Answers on Procedural Safeguards and Due Process Procedures for Parents and Children with Disabilities issued in January 2007 and revised in June 2009. This Q&A document also updates and revises the information and questions and answers contained in the following Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Memoranda: 94-16, Complaint Management Procedures Under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - Public Law 101-476 (Part B), issued March 22, 1994; 00-20, Complaint Resolution Procedures under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Part B), issued July 17, 2000; and 01-5, Questions and Answers on Mediation, issued November 30, 2000. This Q&A document replaces the previously issued OSEP Memoranda and Q&A document.
Generally, the questions and corresponding answers presented in this Q&A document required an interpretation of the IDEA and its implementing regulations and the answers are not simply a restatement of the statutory or regulatory requirements. The responses presented in this document generally are informal guidance representing the interpretation of the Department of the applicable statutory or regulatory requirements in the context of the specific facts presented and are not legally binding. However, where controlling case law on these issues exists in your jurisdiction, it generally would be legally binding. The Q&As in this document are not intended to be a replacement for careful study of the IDEA and its implementing regulations or of controlling case law. The IDEA, its implementing regulations, and other important documents related to the IDEA are found at http://idea.ed.gov.
If you are interested in commenting on this guidance, please email your comments to OSERSguidancecomments@ed.gov and include Dispute Resolution Procedures in the subject of your email or write us at the following address: Gregg Corr, U.S. Department of Education, Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street, S.W., Room 4108, Washington, D.C. 20202.