* Regulations by Section and Attachment 1 (Analysis of Comments and Changes)

Subpart E-Procedural Safeguards
Due Process Procedures for Parents and Children

§300.511 Timelines and convenience of hearings and reviews.

(a) The public agency shall ensure that not later than 45 days after the receipt of a request for a hearing-

(1) A final decision is reached in the hearing; and

(2) A copy of the decision is mailed to each of the parties.

(b) The SEA shall ensure that not later than 30 days after the receipt of a request for a review-

(1) A final decision is reached in the review; and

(2) A copy of the decision is mailed to each of the parties.

(c) A hearing or reviewing officer may grant specific extensions of time beyond the periods set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section at the request of either party.

(d) Each hearing and each review involving oral arguments must be conducted at a time and place that is reasonably convenient to the parents and child involved.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1415)

Analysis of Comments, Discussions and Changes from Attachment 1
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Comment: A few comments were received regarding §300.511 which requested that (1) the 45 and 30 day timelines be specified as 45 and 30 school days; (2) it be clear that hearing officers have discretion to deny requests for extensions of time since extensions may delay hearings for a long time; and (3) delete §300.511(a) or change it to make the SEA responsible for timelines.

Discussion: There is not sufficient consensus or evidence of need to change the long-standing interpretation of the hearing and review timelines from calendar days to "school days." In addition, the potential impact of no "school days" during the summer months would make the delay in parents' access to due process hearings and decisions unreasonable.

The use of the word "may" instead of "shall" in §300.511(c), means that the granting of specific extensions of time are at the discretion of the hearing or review officer. It is not necessary to clarify that this discretion means that requests for extensions can be denied as well as granted since this is implicit in the regulation.

There is no need to change the regulation to reflect the State's responsibility for compliance with timelines because in addition to the language in this regulation, §300.600 continues to hold the State ultimately responsible for noncompliance.

Changes: None.

 

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These Final Regulations were taken from the Federal Register. They were formatted by Education Development Center, Inc. for the IDEA Practices Web site, a service of the OSEP-funded ASPIIRE and ILIAD IDEA Partnership Projects at The Council for Exceptional Children. The material was transferred to the discover IDEA CD 2002 by the Western Regional Resource Center. Every attempt has been made to faithfully reproduce the original content of the Regulations.