Washington Administrative Code

(1)(a) Parents of a student eligible for special education services have the right under this chapter to obtain an independent educational evaluation of the student if the parent disagrees with the school district's evaluation subject to subsections (2) through (7) of this sectio…

(1) Written notice that meets the requirements of subsection (2) of this section must be provided to the parents of a student eligible for special education services, or referred for special education services a reasonable time before the school district:(a) Proposes to initiate …

(1) School districts must provide a copy of the procedural safeguards that are available to the parents of a student eligible for special education services one time a school year, and:(a) Upon initial referral or parent request for evaluation;(b) Upon receipt of the first state …

A parent of a student eligible for special education services may elect to receive prior written notices, procedure safeguards notices and notices relating to due process hearing requests by an electronic mail communication, if the school district makes that option available.[Sta…

(1) An organization or individual, including an organization or individual from another state, may file with the OSPI special education division, a written, signed complaint that the OSPI, or a subgrantee of the OSPI including, but not limited to, an ESD, school district, or othe…

(1) Upon receipt of a properly filed complaint, the OSPI shall send a copy of the complaint to the school district or other agency for their investigation of the alleged violations. A complaint against OSPI shall be investigated pursuant to WAC 392-172A-05040.(2) The OSPI will pr…

(1) If a written complaint is received that is also the subject of a due process hearing under this chapter or contains multiple issues, of which one or more are part of that hearing, the OSPI must set aside any part of the complaint that is being addressed in the due process hea…

(1) Upon receipt of a complaint against the OSPI alleging a violation under this section, the superintendent will designate an investigator within ten days to investigate the complaint.(2) Investigation by the OSPI may include on-site investigations, interviews, and other documen…

The OSPI shall inform parents and other interested individuals about the community complaint procedures in this chapter. Specific actions to be taken by the superintendent of public instruction include:(1) Widely disseminating copies of the state's procedures to parents and other…

(1) The purpose of mediation is to offer both the parent and the school district an opportunity to resolve disputes and reach a mutually acceptable agreement concerning the identification, evaluation, educational placement or provision of FAPE to the student through the use of an…

(1) Mediation shall be conducted by qualified and impartial mediators who are knowledgeable in laws and regulations relating to the provision of special education and related services.(2) An individual who serves as a mediator:(a) May not be an employee of any school district or …

(1) If the parties resolve a dispute through the mediation process, the parties must execute a legally binding agreement that sets forth that resolution and that:(a) States that all discussions that occurred during the mediation process will remain confidential and may not be use…

(1) A school district may establish procedures to offer parents who elect not to use the mediation process to meet, at a time and location convenient to the parents, with a disinterested party:(a) Who is under contract with appropriate alternative dispute resolution entity or a p…

(1) A parent or a school district may file a due process hearing request on any of the matters relating to the identification, evaluation or educational placement, or the provision of FAPE to a student.(2) The due process hearing request must be made within two years of, and alle…

(1)(a) To file a due process hearing request, the parent or the school district (party), or the attorney representing a party, must:(i) Serve the request, which must remain confidential, directly with the other party; and(ii) File a copy of the request via mail, fax, or electroni…

(1)(a) Within fifteen days of receiving notice that a parent has served a due process hearing request on the district and filed a copy of the due process request with the office of administrative hearings, and prior to the initiation of a due process hearing under WAC 392-172A-05…

(1) A due process hearing is conducted for OSPI by the office of administrative hearings.(2) Administrative law judges that conduct the hearings:(a) Must not be:(i) An employee of OSPI or the school district that is involved in the education or care of the student; or(ii) A perso…

These hearing rights govern both due process hearings conducted pursuant to WAC 392-172A-05080 through 392-172A-05125 and hearings for disciplinary matters conducted pursuant to WAC 392-172A-05160.(1) Any party to a due process hearing has the right to:(a) Be represented by couns…

(1) An administrative law judge's determination of whether a student received FAPE must be based on substantive grounds.(2) In matters alleging a procedural violation, an administrative law judge may find that a student did not receive a FAPE only if the procedural inadequacies:(…

(1) Not later than forty-five days after the expiration of the thirty day resolution period, or the adjusted time periods described in WAC 392-172A-05090(3):(a) A final decision shall be reached in the hearing; and(b) A copy of the decision shall be mailed to each of the parties.…

(1) Any party aggrieved by the findings and decision made under WAC 392-172A-05105 through 392-172A-05110 or 392-172A-05165 has the right to bring a civil action with respect to the due process hearing request. The action may be brought in any state court of competent jurisdictio…

(1) In any action or proceeding brought under 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1415 of the act, the court, in its discretion, may award reasonable attorneys' fees as part of the costs to:(a) The prevailing party who is the parent of a student eligible or referred for special education services;(b)…

(1)(a) Except for due process hearings involving special education discipline procedures, during the pendency of any administrative hearing or judicial proceeding regarding the due process hearing proceedings, the student involved in the hearing request must remain in his or her …

(1) School districts must ensure that the rights of a student are protected when:(a) No parent as defined in WAC 392-172A-01125 can be identified;(b) The school district, after reasonable efforts, cannot locate a parent;(c) The student is a ward of the state; or (d) The student i…

(1) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) of this section, when a student eligible for special education services reaches the age of 18 or is deemed to have reached the age of majority, consistent with RCW 26.28.010 through 26.28.020:(a) The school district shall provide any notices…

The purpose of WAC 392-172A-05140 through 392-172A-05175 is to ensure that students eligible for special education services are not improperly excluded from school for disciplinary reasons and are provided services in accordance with WAC 392-172A-05145, 392-172A-05148, and 392-17…

(1) School personnel may consider any unique circumstances on a case-by-case basis when determining whether a change in placement, consistent with the other requirements of this section, is appropriate for a student eligible for special education services, who violates a code of …

(1) Within ten school days of any decision to change the placement of a student eligible for special education services because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the school district, the parent, and relevant members of the student's IEP team (as determined by the paren…

If the school district, the parent, and relevant members of the student's IEP team determine the conduct to be a manifestation of the student's disability, the IEP team must either:(1) Conduct a functional behavioral assessment, unless the school district had conducted a function…

(1) When disciplinary changes in placement exceed ten consecutive school days, and the behavior that gave rise to the violation of the school code is determined not to be a manifestation of the student's disability pursuant to WAC 392-172A-05146, school personnel may apply the re…

(1) School personnel may remove a student to an interim alternative educational setting for not more than forty-five school days without regard to whether the behavior is determined to be a manifestation of the student's disability, if the student:(a) Carries a weapon to or posse…

On the date on which the decision is made to make a removal that constitutes a change of placement of a student eligible for special education services because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the school district must notify the parents of that decision, and provide t…

(1) For purposes of removals of a student eligible for special education services from the student's current educational placement, because of disciplinary removals, a change of placement occurs if:(a) The removal is for more than ten consecutive school days; or(b) The student ha…

(1) The parent of a student eligible for special education services who disagrees with any decision regarding placement under WAC 392-172A-05145 and 392-172A-05155, or the manifestation determination under WAC 392-172A-05146, or a school district that believes that maintaining th…

When either the parent or the school district requests a due process hearing, the student must remain in the interim alternative educational setting pending the decision of the administrative law judge or until the expiration of the time period specified in WAC 392-172A-05148 or …

(1) A student who has not been determined to be eligible for special education and related services under this chapter and who has engaged in behavior that violated a code of student conduct, may assert any of the protections provided for in this chapter if the school district ha…

(1) Nothing in this chapter prohibits a school district or other agency from reporting a crime committed by a student to appropriate authorities or prevents state law enforcement and judicial authorities from exercising their responsibilities with regard to the application of fed…

As used in WAC 392-172A-05180 through 392-172A-05245:(1) Destruction means physical destruction or removal of personal identifiers from information so that the information is no longer personally identifiable.(2) Education records means the type of records covered under the defin…

(1) Parents of students eligible for special education services have rights regarding the protection of the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information collected, used, or maintained under WAC 392-172A-05180 through 392-172A-05240, the Family Educational Rights and…

(1) Each participating agency shall permit parents of students eligible for special education services to inspect and review, during school business hours, any educational records relating to the student which are collected, maintained, or used by the district or other public age…

Each school district or other public agency shall keep a record of parties obtaining access to educational records collected, maintained, or used under this chapter including the name of the party, the date access was given, and the purpose for which the party is authorized to us…

If any educational record includes information on more than one student, the parent of those students shall have the right to inspect and review only the information relating to their child or themselves, or to be informed of that specific information.[Statutory Authority: RCW 28…

Each school district or other public agency shall provide parents and adult students on request a list of the types and locations of educational records collected, maintained, or used by the agency.[Statutory Authority: RCW 28A.155.090(7) and 42 U.S.C. 1400 et. seq. WSR 07-14-078…

(1) A participating agency may charge a fee for copies of records which are made for parents under this chapter if the fee does not effectively prevent the parents from exercising their right to inspect and review those records.(2) A participating agency may not charge a fee to s…

(1) A parent of a student who believes that information in educational records collected, maintained, or used under this chapter is inaccurate or misleading or violates the privacy or other rights of the student may request that the school district which maintains the information…

A hearing initiated pursuant to WAC 392-172A-05215 to challenge information in educational records shall be conducted according to procedures developed by the school district or other public agency, and in conformance with the procedures in 34 C.F.R. 99.22 that include at least t…

(1) Parental consent must be obtained before personally identifiable information is disclosed to parties, other than officials of participating agencies in accordance with subsection (2)(a) of this section, unless the information is contained in education records, and the disclos…