Oklahoma

1. Initial evaluation timeline

45 schooldays from the date the parent signs consent - and the clock does not stop at the evaluation; it runs to the eligibility determination. Oklahoma has adopted a state timeline in lieu of the federal 60-calendar-day default (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)(1)(i)): per the OSDE Special Education Policies & Procedures (Aug. 2024), “Oklahoma has established a timeline of 45 school days from the date of the parent consent for the completion of an initial eligibility,” running “beginning the date of the parent’s signature on the ‘Special Education Parent Consent’ form and ending on the date of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation and Eligibility Group Summary (MEEGS) form where the group made the determination of eligibility.“ Two operational points that change the answer:

• “School day” is the federal definition (34 C.F.R. § 300.11(c)) and it excludes summer. OSDE: “Virtual days and partial days are also included in the definition of a school day … when used by all students in an LEA. Since all children with and without disabilities do not receive Extended School Year (ESY) services, or attend credit recovery summer programs, these days or partial days do not count as ‘school days.’” So consent signed in late April does not produce a MEEGS 45 calendar days later - summer, winter and spring break, and snow days do not run the clock.

• Two exceptions only (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(d)-(e)): the parent “repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child for the evaluation,” or the child enrolls in a new LEA with an “open” consent mid-evaluation (the sending district’s consent date and compliance date carry over through the state’s special-education software; the receiving LEA “must not conduct a new RED and new parent consent to ‘reset’ the timeline”). OSDE expressly states that a parent delaying the eligibility meeting is notan exception - the LEA may make the eligibility determination without the parent, with documentation.

Front-end trap (state rule exceeding IDEA): once the LEA determines on the Review of Existing Data (RED) form that additional data is needed, “the LEA must gain signed parental consent or document the parent’s refusal for the initial evaluation within 10 school days.“ That 10-school-day rule is listed among the ”State requirements which exceed[] requirements imposed by the IDEA.“

Sources: OSDE - Special Education Policies & Procedures (Aug. 2024) (PDF) (Oklahoma Policies, pp. 1-2; Ch. 5 “Evaluation and Eligibility,” pp. 76-78); OSDE-SES - Evaluations & Eligibility Handbook (PDF); OSDE - Indicator 11 (Child Find).

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

30 calendar days from the eligibility determination to the initial IEP. OSDE: “The time between the initial eligibility determination (i.e., signature date on the Initial MEEGS form) and the date of the initial Individualized Education Program (IEP) must not exceed 30 calendar days (34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)).“ The Policies’ IEP-timeline table confirms: Initial - “30 calendar days from the date of initial eligibility determination (i.e., Date on Initial MEEGS signature page).”

Related Oklahoma-specific IEP deadlines from the same table and the state-exceeds-IDEA list:

• Move-in / transfer students: “An IEP must be in effect and finalized for move-in students within 10 school days from the student’s first day of attendance“ (34 C.F.R. § 300.323(e)) - including a student returning to public school after using a Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarship.

• Subsequent IEPs: no less than annually from the prior IEP; amendments do not change the annual due date.

• Secondary transition: services “must be in effect before the beginning of the ninth-grade year, or on or before the age 15, whichever comes first“ - earlier than IDEA’s age-16 floor.

Source: OSDE - Policies & Procedures (Aug. 2024) (PDF) (Oklahoma Policies, pp. 1-2; Ch. 5, p. 77; IEP chapter, “Section 2. IEP Timelines,” p. 203).