Maryland

1. Initial evaluation timeline

Two clocks run at once: 60 days from parental consent to assessments and90 days from the agency’s receipt of a written referral - whichever expires first controls. COMAR 13A.05.01.06A(1): “An IEP team shall complete an initial evaluation of a student, consistent with 34 CFR §300.301(c)(1), within: (a) 60 days of parental consent for assessments … and (b) 90 days of the public agency receiving a written referral in accordance with Regulation .04A of this chapter.” The 90-day outer limit has no federal analogue and is the provision to plead: a district that sits on a referral, drags out the consent form, and then claims its 60 days only just started is still out of time at day 91 from the written referral.

Days are calendar days. COMAR 13A.05.01.03B(16): “’Day’ means a calendar day unless otherwise indicated as a school day or business day.” No summer or holiday tolling appears anywhere in COMAR 13A.05.01.06 - unlike Pennsylvania, a Maryland consent signed in May keeps running through the summer.

The only exceptions in COMAR 13A.05.01.06A(2)-(3) are repeated parental failure or refusal to produce the student for assessments, and a qualifying transfer to another public agency. The transfer exception requires sufficient progress and a specific completion date agreed by the parent and subsequent agency. The current regulation does not create a general extension by mutual written agreement of the parent and IEP team. Sources: COMAR 13A.05.01.06; COMAR 13A.05.01.03.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

• IEP team must meet to develop the IEP within 30 days of the evaluation. COMAR 13A.05.01.08A(1): “A public agency shall ensure that an IEP team meets to develop an IEP for a student with a disability within 30 days of the evaluation.” MSDE’s own timeline handout states the IEP is due “30 days after student is found eligible for special education.” Sources: COMAR 13A.05.01.08 (Cornell LII); MSDE, IEP Essentials: Timelines, Notices, and Consents (PDF).

• Meeting notice: at least 10 calendar days in advance, unless the meeting is expedited for discipline, placement of a child not currently receiving services, or other urgent needs. Md. Code Ann., Educ. § 8-405(b)(1)(ii).

• Documents 5 business days before; IEP 5 business days after. Educ. § 8-405(e)(1)(i): “at least 5 business days before a scheduled meeting … appropriate school personnel shall provide the parents of the child with … an accessible copy of each assessment, report, data chart, draft individualized education program, or other document that either team plans to discuss at the meeting.” Educ. § 8-405(f)(1)-(2): “Not later than 5 business days after a scheduled meeting … appropriate school personnel shall provide the parents of the child with a copy of the completed individualized education program,” and if it is not finished, “the parents shall be provided with the draft copy.” Caveat with teeth: § 8-405(i) - “Failure to comply with this section does not constitute a substantive violation of the requirement to provide a student with a free appropriate public education.” A “business day” is a day the agency is open for business whether or not students attend (COMAR 13A.05.01.03B(9)). Sources: Md. Code Ann., Educ. § 8-405 (mgaleg statute text); MSDE archived TAB, “5 Day Rule” (PDF).

• Implementation: Maryland sets no fixed number of days. The IEP must state the projected date services will begin, COMAR 13A.05.01.09A(1)(h), and the federal rule requires implementation as soon as possible after development.