Ohio

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 calendar days from the district’s receipt of parental consent - plus a distinctly Ohio front-end clock. OAC 3301-51-06(B)(4)(a): the initial evaluation “[m]ust be conducted within sixty days of receiving parental consent for the evaluation.” Ohio’s rules count “days” as calendar days unless otherwise indicated (34 C.F.R. § 300.11, adopted through Ohio’s Operating Standards). The Ohio-specific add-on is OAC 3301-51-06(B)(3): within thirty calendar days of receipt of a request for an evaluation from a parent or a public agency, the district must either obtain parental consent for an initial evaluation or issue prior written notice stating it does not suspect a disability and will not evaluate. Federal law imposes no such 30-day response deadline - this is the practitioner’s lever when a district sits on a written referral. Exceptions to the 60-day clock (parent repeatedly fails to produce the child; child transfers districts mid-evaluation) are at OAC 3301-51-06(B)(5). Sources: OAC 3301-51-06 (Ohio Laws); OAC 3301-51-06 (Cornell LII); 34 C.F.R. § 300.11 (Cornell LII); Ohio School Boards Association - child find and initial evaluation procedures.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

Yes - and Ohio stacks three deadlines, the shortest of which controls. OAC 3301-51-07(H)(2) requires the initial IEP meeting to be held: (a) within 30 calendar days of the determination that the child needs special education and related services; (b) within 90 calendar days of receipt of parental consent to evaluate; and (c) within 120 calendar days of receipt of the request for an evaluation. Subsection (a) tracks federal 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(1); (b) and (c) are Ohio overlays that cap the total elapsed time from referral, so a district cannot burn the full 60-day evaluation window and then take another 30 days if that would blow the 90/120-day outer limits. Services must be made available “as soon as possible following development” of the IEP, OAC 3301-51-07(H)(3)(b). Sources: OAC 3301-51-07 (Ohio Laws); OAC 3301-51-07 (Cornell LII).