Montana

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 calendardays from the district’s receipt of signed parental consent - the federal default, because Montana adopted the federal rule rather than writing its own. ARM 10.16.3321(1) requires that evaluations be “conducted in accordance with the requirements of 34 CFR 300.301 through 300.311 and 34 CFR 300.321,” and Montana has not exercised the option in 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)(1)(ii) to set a different state timeframe. So the operative clock is § 300.301(c)(1)(i): 60 days from receipt of parental consent, and under § 300.301(c)(1)(i) those are calendar days - which means there is no summer, holiday, or snow-day tolling in Montana. A consent signed in mid-May produces a deadline in mid-July, in the middle of the summer break. Contrast Pennsylvania (summer carved out) and Indiana (instructional days only): Montana is the harsh version, and districts that assume the clock stops for vacation are wrong.

OPI guidance states that all assessments on the Evaluation Plan must be completed within 60 calendar days and that the Evaluation Report meeting follows “as soon as possible.” The incorporated federal rule requires the initial evaluation within the applicable timeframe. Do not assume that the meeting may be postponed indefinitely after day 60. If timing becomes disputed, cite both ARM 10.16.3321 and 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c), request a prompt meeting in writing, and preserve the issue.

What starts the clock: the district’s receipt of the signed Evaluation Plan: Notice of Intent to Conduct an Evaluation or Reevaluation and Permission for Evaluation or Reevaluation form. Consent must be informed - “The parent cannot give his/her consent, through a letter or otherwise, before the school district has identified the specific areas of assessment.”

Exceptions: only the two federal ones (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(d)) - a parent who repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child, and a child who enrolls in a different district after consent, where the parents and the new district agree to a specific completion date and the new district is making sufficient progress. No Montana-specific exception located.

Front-end rule: ARM 10.16.3320 governs who may request an initial evaluation and requires the LEA to obtain parental consent before evaluating; it sets no deadline for the district to respond to a parent’s request (unlike Indiana’s 10 instructional days). The only leverage on a stalling district is prior written notice under 34 C.F.R. § 300.503.

Sources: ARM 10.16.3321 (Cornell LII); ARM 10.16.3320 (Cornell LII); OPI - Special Education in Montana (“One Guide”), Aug. 2024, Q16-Q18 (PDF); 34 C.F.R. § 300.301.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

30 calendar days from the eligibility determination - again by adoption of the federal rule, not by a Montana rule of its own. ARM 10.16.3340 provides only that “Local educational agencies shall develop, implement, review, and revise individualized education programs (IEP) in accordance with 34 CFR 300.320 through 300.328,” which pulls in 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(1) (IEP meeting within 30 calendar days of the determination that the child needs special education).

OPI states it plainly: “IDEA requires that a meeting to develop an IEP be conducted within 30 calendar days from the date the student was determined eligible. There is nothing in the IDEA regulations that prohibits the development of the IEP earlier than 30 days, including immediately following the eligibility determination.”

Implementation: Montana sets no fixed number of days. OPI says services should be implemented as soon as possible following parental consent to the developed IEP.

Pre-meeting disclosure of the evaluation report: no Montana rule or statewide OPI guidance located as of July 14, 2026 requires the report to be delivered a fixed number of days before the meeting. Request it in writing as soon as the evaluation is complete.

Sources: ARM 10.16.3340 (Cornell LII); OPI One Guide, Q15 (PDF); 34 C.F.R. § 300.323.