Kentucky

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 schooldays from the LEA’s receipt of parental consent - not 60 calendar days, and the count skips every day school is not in session. The rule lives in the IEP regulation, not the evaluation regulation: 707 KAR 1:320 § 2(3) requires that “[w]ithin sixty (60) school days following the receipt of the parental consent for an initial evaluation of a child: (a) The child is evaluated; and (b) If the child is eligible, specially designed instruction and related services will be provided in accordance with the IEP.” Two consequences attorneys should hold onto:

• The 60-school-day window covers everything, not just testing. KDE’s own parent guidance describes the district’s obligations inside those 60 school days as: complete the evaluation, reconvene the ARC (Admissions and Release Committee) to review results and determine eligibility, write the IEP, and determine placement.

• Summer, holidays, and weekends do not count. KY-SPIN (the state PTI) puts it plainly: the timeline runs in school days, so “weekends and breaks from school do not count.” A consent signed in late April can therefore lawfully produce an eligibility ARC well into the following October. There is no separate summer-tolling clause to argue about - the school-day denominator is the tolling mechanism.

• Exceptions (707 KAR 1:320 § 2): the 60-school-day clock does not apply if the child transfers to a new LEA after consent but before completion (provided the new LEA is making sufficient progress and the parent and LEA agree on a completion date), or if the parent repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child for evaluation.

Sources: 707 KAR 1:320 (LRC); 707 KAR 1:320 (Cornell LII); KY-SPIN - Myth Busters: Timeline for Initial Evaluation; Kentucky Parent Guide for Special Education (HDI/UK).

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

30 calendar days from the eligibility determination to the IEP-development ARC meeting, nested inside the 60-school-day window. 707 KAR 1:320 § 2(4) requires the ARC meeting within 30 days of eligibility. Kentucky defines “day” as a calendar day unless a provision specifies a business day or school day. 707 KAR 1:002 § 1(20). The outer 60-day clock is expressly stated in school days; the inner 30-day clock is therefore calendar days.

Implementation: Kentucky sets no express “implement within X days” deadline comparable to Pennsylvania’s 10-school-day rule; 707 KAR 1:320 § 1 requires only that an IEP be in effect before specially designed instruction and related services are provided, and be implemented as soon as possible following the ARC meeting. Sources: 707 KAR 1:320 (LRC); KDE - Part B Procedural Safeguards Notice (PDF).