Connecticut

1. Initial evaluation timeline

45 schooldays from the district’s receipt of a written referral - and the clock does not stop at the evaluation report. It runs all the way through implementation of the IEP. Connecticut abandoned the federal 60-calendar-day rule entirely: in a January 23, 2020 memorandum to Directors of Special Education, the CSDE Bureau of Special Education stated flatly, “The State will no longer use the Federal Timeline,“ and that ”[p]ursuant to Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies §10-76d-13, once a district receives a written referral for special education evaluation, it has 45 school days to complete an initial evaluation, exclusive of the time required to obtain parental consent.“ The state timeline ”encompasses the entire eligibility determination process including reviewing the referral, obtaining written parental consent for evaluation, conducting a comprehensive evaluation, determining eligibility, obtaining written parental consent for the provision of special education services and implementing an IEP if the student is found eligible.“ Sources: CSDE - Initial Evaluation Timeline memo, Jan. 23, 2020 (PDF); CSDE - Evaluation Timelines Help Site; Shipman & Goodwin - SDE Issues Revised Guidance on Initial Evaluation Timelines.

Four operational details that decide most timeline disputes:

• Trigger = the written referral, not consent. The clock starts when the district receives the written referral - earlier than the federal trigger (receipt of parental consent, 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)). But it then pauses twice, each time for up to 10 school days: once from the parent’s receipt of the Notice and Consent to Conduct an Initial Evaluation (ED625) until the signed form comes back, and again from the parent’s receipt of the Consent for the Initial Provision of Special Education (ED626) until it comes back. A parent who sits on either form is eating her own clock. Source: CSDE memo, p. 2 and the one-page timeline flowchart at p. 5.

• “School days” excludes everything that isn’t school. CSDE’s Parent’s Guide is explicit: “’School days’ do not include any days that school is not in session such as weekends, holidays, vacations, and snow days.“ So a spring referral does not mature into an IEP 45 calendar days later; summer is dead time, and CSDE expressly permits a district that receives a late-spring referral to ”complete the evaluation at the beginning of the next school year provided that it adheres to the State’s 45 school day timeline.“ Sources: A Parent’s Guide to Special Education in Connecticut (CSDE) (PDF); CSDE memo, “End of the School Year.”

• Summer referrals are deemed made in September. RCSA § 10-76d-13(b): “In the case of a referral made in between school years, the effective date of the referral may be deemed to be the first school day of the next school year.“ Source: Conn. Agencies Regs. § 10-76d-13 (Cornell LII).

• Out-of-district/private placement: 60 school days. RCSA § 10-76d-13(a)(2): “In the case of a child whose individualized education program calls for out-of-district or private placement, the individualized education program shall be implemented within sixty days of referral or notice, exclusive of the time required to obtain parental consent. If difficulty of placement is such as to occasion a delay beyond this period, the board of education shall submit to the state board of education written documentation of its efforts to obtain placement in a timely manner.“ CSDE reads this as 60 school days. Sources: Cornell LII § 10-76d-13; CSDE memo.

The 45 days are school days. RCSA § 10-76a-1(5) defines an unqualified “day” as a school day unless otherwise specified, so § 10-76d-13 does not create a calendar-day ambiguity. Source: official Connecticut eRegulations, Title 10, Subtitle 10-76.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

Connecticut sets no separate eligibility-to-IEP clock, because eligibility andIEP development andimplementation all have to fit inside the same 45 school days. CSDE’s own flowchart runs: referral → PPT #1 to review the referral → ED625 consent (pause) → evaluation → PPT #2 to review the evaluation and determine eligibility → ED626 consent (pause) → IEP implemented, all “Completed Within 45 School Days or Less.” (CSDE memo, p. 5.) The downstream deadlines that actually bind:

• Written notice of the referral to the parent within 5 school days of the referral. (Parent’s Guide - “Timelines”.)

• PPT meeting notice at least 5 school days in advance, in the parent’s native language. RCSA § 10-76d-12(a); Parent’s Guide; Cornell LII § 10-76d-12.

• Evaluation results 3 school days before the PPT - but only on request. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-76d(a)(10)(G): “Upon request by a parent, guardian, pupil or surrogate parent, the responsible local or regional board of education shall provide the results of the assessments and evaluations used in the determination of eligibility … at least three school days before the referral planning and placement team meeting at which such results … will be discussed for the first time.“ No request, no advance copy - ask in writing, every time. Source: Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 164 (CGA, current).

• Copy of the IEP to the parent within 5 school days after the PPT. Parent’s Guide; cf. RCSA § 10-76d-13(a)(6) (“A full copy of the individualized education program shall be sent to the parents within five days after the planning and placement team meeting“).

• Prior written notice creates a 10-school-day waiting period before a proposed action is implemented. RCSA § 10-76d-8(a)(5) provides that the proposed action may not be implemented for 10 school days after the parent receives prior written notice unless parent and district agree to an earlier date. Connecticut’s completed IEP is due within five school days after the PPT. Sources: CSDE Prior Written Notice guidance; Parent’s Guide.