Office for Civil Rights Requires Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL) to Address Expired IEP, Evaluation, and Plan Distribution Concerns
OCR identifies systemic concerns that the school had not established practices for timely evaluations or for distributing completed IEPs and Section 504 plans to teachers and staff.
April 8, 2026, U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a letter of findings to Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) in Florida, after investigating a complaint filed on behalf of a student with a disability.
The complaint was filed November 23, 2022, against the Miami-Dade County School District.
The complainant alleged that a school discriminated against a student on the basis of disability.
OCR investigated two issues:
“1. Whether the District has denied a Student a free appropriate public education in violation of 34 C.F.R. § 104.33 and Title II and its implementing regulation at 28 C.F.R. § 35.130.
“2. Whether the District discriminated against a Student by treating her differently from students without disabilities as alleged, in violation of Section 504 and its implementing regulation at 34 C.F.R. § 104.4 and Title II and its implementing regulation at 28 C.F.R. § 35.130.”
Before OCR completed its investigation, MDCPS expressed interest in resolving the complaint under Section 302 of OCR’s Case Processing Manual. Under that process, OCR may resolve allegations before issuing a final determination when the recipient expresses interest in resolving the allegations and OCR determines that its investigation has identified issues that can be addressed through a resolution agreement. This case had another wrinkle. According to OCR:
“Based upon recently obtained information, OCR has determined that it no longer has consent to proceed with the investigation of the individual issues. However, based upon evidence obtained during the investigation OCR has identified a systemic concern that can be addressed through a resolution agreement.”
What Happened
According to OCR:
“District witnesses told OCR that for students transferring into the School, they had followed accommodations on IEPs that were given to them for the students. However, the individual student at the center of OCR’s investigation transferred to the School with an expired IEP that was provided to teachers, and while there was some conflicting evidence of a newer IEP being generated, no information received by OCR to date confirms a meeting was held to reevaluate the student and their IEP.”
That’s a problem.
Students don’t stop needing supports because they transfer schools—and they don’t lose disability rights because the paperwork is old.
AND: Teachers can’t implement a current plan if nobody gives them a current plan.
