Colorado

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 calendar days, measured from initiation of the special-education referral. ECEA Rule 4.02(3)(c), 1 CCR 301-8, requires the initial evaluation to be completed within 60 calendar days. The referral is initiated when the parent is informed of the referral or requests the evaluation and provides written consent. The rule does not require the eligibility meeting itself to occur within the 60 days. CDE has held that eligibility must follow within a reasonable time, while the initial IEP remains due within 90 calendar days of consent. The rule contains no summer, holiday, or school-break tolling, and it carries the two federal exceptions for repeated failure or refusal to produce the child and a mid-evaluation transfer. Sources: CDE Complaint SC2014-509; CDE Special Education Rules and Regulations.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

Colorado replaces the federal “30 days from eligibility” rule with a hard outer cap measured from consent: 90 calendar days. ECEA Rule 4.03(1)(d)(i) requires the initial IEP to be developed within 90 calendar days of consent to evaluate. Evaluation and IEP development must therefore fit inside the 90-day outer limit. Colorado sets no separate numbered implementation interval; 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(2) requires services to be made available as soon as possible after IEP development. Source: current ECEA rules.