Missouri

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 calendar days from parental consent - but the clock stops for “just cause,” which Missouri defines to include summer break, school holidays, and student illness. Missouri’s operative rule is not in the CSR but in the Missouri State Plan for Special Education, Part B, Regulation III (Identification and Evaluation) (incorporated by reference into DESE’s administrative rules; current version effective March 31, 2026). Under the heading EVALUATION TIMELINES: “The evaluation shall be completed and a decision regarding eligibility rendered within sixty (60) calendar days following parent consent or notice, as the case may be. This timeline does not apply if the parent of the student repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the student for evaluation or the student enrolls in another public agency after the timeline has begun ... or there is just cause (school breaks for summer or holidays, student illness, etc.) documented in the student’s record.“ Practical effect: unlike the federal 60-day rule (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)), Missouri lets the district toll the clock for the summer and for holidays, so long as the just cause is documented - the tolling is not automatic and is defeasible if the record is silent. Two front-end deadlines feed the same section:

• Notice of Intent to Evaluate: the agency “shall provide the parent with a Notice of Intent to Evaluate as soon as possible, but within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of referral for evaluation,“ with the same just-cause exception.

• Parent request for evaluation: the agency must “determine in a timely manner, but not more than 30 days from the request, if there is reason to suspect a disability and need for evaluation,“ and if it declines, must issue a Notice of Action Refused (Missouri’s prior-written-notice vehicle).

• SLD extension: the evaluation timeline may be extended “by mutual written agreement of the student’s parents and the evaluation professionals” when determining SLD eligibility. Sources: DESE - Regulation III: Identification and Evaluation (State Plan, Part B) (PDF); DESE - State Plan for Special Education (current plan, effective 3/31/2026); DESE - Part B Current Plan (regulation index); MPACT - Evaluation/IEP Timelines fact sheet.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

IEP meeting within 30 calendar days of the eligibility determination; services as soon as possible after the meeting. State Plan Regulation IV requires the meeting within 30 days but does not specify the unit. The incorporated federal rule, 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(1), uses calendar days. Missouri sets no additional fixed implementation deadline. Source: DESE - Regulation IV: FAPE/IEP/LRE.