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Virginia Regulation Restricts Parents' IEE Rights
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Southern Atlantic and Southern Central States

Virginia Regulation Restricts Parents' IEE Rights

U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs finds Virginia's "regulation restricts a parent's right to an IEE at public expense . . ."

Callie Oettinger
Jul 06, 2020
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Virginia Regulation Restricts Parents' IEE Rights
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Virginia Must Revise Regulations That Limit Parents' Independent Education Evaluation Rights

U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) determined Virginia's regulations unlawfully restrict parents’ rights under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to obtain Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE) at public expense.

In its June 23, 2020, Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) Report, OSEP determined Virginia Administrative Code 8VAC20-81-170(B)(2)(a) and (e), “restricts a parent’s right to an IEE at public expense to only those areas in which the public agency had previously evaluated the child. . . .” Specifically, these regulations are inconsistent with the language and intent of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements under 20 U.S.C. § 1415(b)(1) and 34 C.F.R. § 300.502(b). IDEA does not restrict IEEs to components already evaluated by a school.

U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs June 23, 2020, Differentiated Monitoring and Support Report
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Case Example

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Virginia, has a history of limiting IEEs to the same components included in its own “comprehensive” evaluations—often just educational, psychological, and sociological. However, IDEA clearly gives parents the right to an IEE “subject to paragraphs (b) through (e)” of 34 C.F.R. § 300.502, and none of these permit the following:

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