South Dakota

1. Initial evaluation timeline

25 schooldays from the district’s receipt of signed parental consent - not 60 calendar days. ARSD 24:05:25:03: “Initial evaluations must be completed within 25 school days after receipt by the district of signed parent consent to evaluate unless other timelines are agreed to by the school administration and the parents.” South Dakota’s rule is materially shorter than the federal 60-calendar-day default (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)) on its face - but because it runs in school days, it stops dead over every break.

How the days are counted (this is where the answer actually lives). The SEA’s own Indicator 11 instructions to districts, Directions for Initial Evaluations Age 3-21 (July 2025), spell out the count:

• “The date permission was documented as received or the date parent signed the consent, counts as school day 1.“

• “When permission is received on a non-school day, then school day 1 will be the next business day school is in session.”

• “Count all days school is scheduled including make-up days, half days, late start or early release days.”

• “Do not include vacation days, weekends, teacher workdays, or days school was cancelled for the entire day, unless the student was brought in or scheduled for testing in another location on those days.“

• The count ends with the date the last evaluation (including skill-based) was completed - not the eligibility meeting.

So consent signed in mid-May does not produce a completed evaluation 25 calendar days later: summer, spring break, snow days, and in-service days are all tolled, and districts must upload their school calendar (with cancellations marked) to Launchpad so the state can verify the count.

Definitions. ARSD 24:05:13:01 defines “day” as “calendar day unless otherwise indicated as a business day or school day,” and “business day” as Monday through Friday except federal and state holidays. Article 24:05 does not add a different definition of “school day,” so the federal definition in 34 C.F.R. § 300.11(c), any day including a partial day when children attend for instructional purposes, applies. The July 2025 SEA counting directions quoted above supply the operational method used for Indicator 11 reporting.

Extension and exceptions. Parents and administration may agree in writing to a longer timeline; the agreed date is noted on the PPWN Consent to Evaluate (ARSD 24:05:25:03; SEA guidance). The 25-day clock does not apply at all if (a) the parent “repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child for the evaluation,” or (b) the child enrolls in a different district before the prior district finished - and then only if the new district is making sufficient progress and the parent and district agree on a completion date. ARSD 24:05:25:03.02.

Sources: ARSD 24:05:25:03 (Cornell LII); ARSD 24:05:25:03.02 (Cornell LII); ARSD 24:05:13:01 - Definitions (Cornell LII); SD DOE - Directions for Initial Evaluations Age 3-21 (July 2025) (PDF).

2. Eligibility-to-IEP timeline

30 days after the evaluation window closes - and eligibility andthe IEP meeting must both land inside it. ARSD 24:05:25:03: “Written evaluation reports, determination of eligibility, and conducting an IEP team meeting must be completed within 30 days from the end of the 25 school day evaluation timeline.“ If the parties agreed to an extended evaluation timeline, the 30 days run from the end of the agreed period instead.

These are calendar days: the rule says “days” without qualification, and ARSD 24:05:13:01 expressly makes an unqualified “day” a calendar day. Net practical clock: 25 school days to finish testing, then 30 calendar days to complete the written reports, eligibility determination, and IEP meeting.

Implementation trap unique to South Dakota - the 5-day prior-notice floor. ARSD 24:05:30:04: written notice meeting § 24:05:30:05 “must be given to the parents five days before the district proposes or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child or the provision of a free appropriate public education.“ The SEA’s IEP technical-assistance guide reads this as a hard floor on the start date of services: ”Date services begin is, at a minimum 5 days, after the Parental Prior Written Notice (PPWN) is given to parents,“ and ”if sent after the meeting, ensure implementation date is a minimum of 5 days from when PPWN was sent.“ Parents may waive the 5-day notice, but the SEA cautions this ”should only be done in limited circumstances.“ There is no federal analogue - 34 C.F.R. § 300.503 requires PWN ”a reasonable time before,“ with no number.

Sources: ARSD 24:05:25:03 (Cornell LII); ARSD 24:05:13:01 (Cornell LII); ARSD 24:05:30:04 - Prior notice (Cornell LII); SD DOE - IEP Technical Assistance Guide (Aug. 2025) (PDF); SD Parental Rights Handbook 2025 (PDF).