South Carolina

1. Initial evaluation timeline

60 calendar days from the district’s receipt of parental consent - no state-specific variation, and no summer tolling. South Carolina’s special-education regulation, S.C. Code Regs. 43-243, does not set its own evaluation clock; it adopts and clarifies 34 C.F.R. Part 300, so the federal default in 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)(1)(i) governs. The state’s own IDEA Part B policy document states the rule flatly under the heading § 300.301 Initial Evaluation: “The initial evaluation must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for evaluation. Verification that all necessary information has been gathered to determine eligibility signals the conclusion of an evaluation.” Source: SCDE - Policies and Procedures in accordance with IDEA 2004 (PDF), at p. 44 (§ 300.301).

• Days are calendar days. Disability Rights South Carolina (the state’s P&A): “60 days is 60 calendar days including weekends, breaks, or unexpected weather events.” Source: DRSC - Special Education Evaluations.

• Contrast with Pennsylvania: SC has no summer carve-out. A consent signed in May runs straight through vacation. Nothing in R 43-243 or the state Policies and Procedures tolls the count for school breaks; only the federal exceptions at 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(d) (child transfers districts mid-evaluation; parent repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child) stop the clock. Source: S.C. Code Regs. 43-243 (Cornell LII).

• Current source hierarchy: use 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c) and R 43-243 for the binding rule. OSES’s current Regulations, Policy, & Guidance page continues to publish the 2013 Special Education Process Guide as agency guidance, along with newer topic-specific memoranda. Do not rely on the older March 2011 policies document as if it were a current regulation. Source: OSES - Regulations, Policy, & Guidance.

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

Two steps, and the first one is stricter than federal law:

• Eligibility determination within 15 business days after completion of the evaluation. SCDE’s Special Education Process Guide states that eligibility must be determined no later than 15 business days after the evaluation is complete, and explains that the 60-day evaluation period ends when all information needed for eligibility has been gathered. This is agency guidance currently linked by OSES, not a day count stated in R 43-243, so cite the Guide accurately and do not shorten “business days” to “days.” Source: SCDE Special Education Process Guide (2013), pp. 36 and 45.

• IEP meeting within 30 calendar days of the determination of eligibility, per the federal rule adopted by reference, 34 C.F.R. § 300.323(c)(1); R 43-243 sets no different figure. Disability Rights South Carolina states it the same way: “If a student is eligible for special education, a written IEP will be developed within 30 days after the evaluation.” Sources: S.C. Code Regs. 43-243; DRSC - Special Education Evaluations.