When the LEA receives a request for an IEE from a parent who disagrees with the LEA’s evaluation, the LEA must respond to the parent’s request in a reasonable amount of time and in a manner that does not interfere with the child’s right to a free appropriate public education. The local educational agency must either provide the IEE at public expense or request a due process hearing to show that it’s evaluation is appropriate. If the final decision in the due process proceedings is that the agency’s evaluation is appropriate, the parent has a right to an IEE, but not at public expense.
In the process of completing an IEE, the LEA determines who the examiner will be to conduct the IEE, along with that allows the examiner an opportunity to observe the child in her/her class, as part of the IEE. If the LEA examiner observed the child as part of his/her assessment, or if the LEA’s procedures permit in-class observation, then the independent examiner has a right to observe the child in class. If the purpose of the IEE is to address a learning disability, an observation is a required component of the evaluation, and the agency must permit the observation.

After the LEA receives the results of an IEE, the law does not require the local educational agency to carry out the IEE recommendations. However, the agency must consider the results of an IEE that meets agency criteria in any eligibility, program planning, and placement decisions about providing a free appropriate public education to the child. At a minimum, the LEA should ensure that an IEP team reviews the IEE and discusses the results. After the IEP team considers the IEE, the agency must send the parents a notice, in accordance with 115.792(1)(b) and (2), Wis. Stats, regarding the team’s decisions concerning the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of free appropriate public education to the child. If the parents disagree with such a decision, they may request mediation or a due process hearing to resolve the dispute. The parents may present the IEE as evidence at the due process hearing.

Section 115.782(b) 1., Wis. Stats, requires that as part of an initial evaluation and as part of a reevaluation of a child, the IEP team review existing data on the child, including evaluations and information provided by the child’s parents. Therefore, if parents give a LEA an IEE obtained before the agency conducts its own evaluation, the agency should consider the IEE and decide whether it needs to repeat the assessments conducted for the IEE.

For more information about this service contact:
Keith Fuchs, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Leadership Center
kfuchs@cesa6.org