If you are a parent of a child with a disability, you have the right to receive an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) funded with public funds each time the school conducts an evaluation of your child and you disagree with the findings. The request for an IEE must be made by the special education supervisor or the superintendent of the local school system. The public agency cannot require parents to provide an explanation or unreasonably delay the completion of the evaluation from the public purse or the filing of a due process lawsuit. Except for certain criteria, a public agency cannot impose conditions or deadlines related to obtaining an IEE with public funds.
Parents are only entitled to an independent, publicly funded educational evaluation whenever the public agency conducts an evaluation with which they disagree. The school may ask you why you object to the evaluation, but it may not require you to explain or cause unjustified delays in providing the IEE with public funds or initiating due process to defend your evaluation. If a parent requests an independent educational evaluation with public funding, the public agency must also do so without unnecessary delay. The school system must consider the results of any evaluation (if that evaluation meets the criteria used by the school system) when making any decision regarding providing your child with an appropriate and free public education (FAPE). If the parent obtains an independent educational evaluation with public funding or shares with the public agency an evaluation obtained with private funds, the results of the evaluation must be considered. This means that you can ask a competent, professional evaluator who is not employed by the school system to perform another assessment of your child.
If a parent requests an independent educational evaluation with public funding, they have the right to receive only one IEE, funded with public funds. It is important to note that if a hearing officer requests an independent educational evaluation as part of a due process complaint hearing, the cost of the evaluation must be borne by the public. However, if the public agency submits a complaint notice with due process guarantees to request a hearing and the final decision is that the agency's evaluation is appropriate, parents will still have the right to an independent educational evaluation, but not with public funding.
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