Here’s something that comes up fairly often: the parent requests an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation) in an area the school has not evaluated.  Of course parents can always obtain an IEE—the legal issue is whether they can require the school to pay for it. 

The federal court for the Northern District of Texas concluded that the district is not required to pay for an evaluation under these circumstances.  The court noted that nothing in the law “entitles parents to an IEE at public expense where the district has not done an evaluation.” 

There was also another problem.  The parent obtained the evaluation from someone who was not within the geographic area spelled out in the district’s guidelines for IEEs.  The court held that the district’s geographic criteria were reasonable, and the district was authorized to deny funding for the IEE on that basis without requesting a due process hearing:

Section 300.502 contains no provision requiring, or even permitting, schools to initiate due process hearings to support their denial of an IEE evaluation based on geographic criteria…..Therefore, under the text of Section 300.502, school districts may place geographical limitations on IEE evaluators and may deny payment of expenses of an IEE evaluator that does not meet its geographical criteria.

It's Thurman G. v. Sweetwater ISD, decided by the federal court for the Northern District of Texas on July 26, 2021. We found it on SpecialEd Connection at 121 LRP 25687.

DAWG BONE: COMMON SENSE.  AN IEE IS FOR WHEN THE PARENT DISAGREES WITH THE DISTRICT’S EVALUATION.  THAT MEANS THE DISTRICT HAS DONE ONE.

Got a question or comment for the Dawg?  Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com. 

Tomorrow: sometimes the parent wants the more restrictive environment….