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Hearing Letter 18: Ten-Business-Day Unilateral-Placement Notice: Reducing an Equitable Objection

When to Use It

Send this before you remove your child from the public school and enroll [him/her/them] in a private placement you intend to ask the district to pay for. This notice does not by itself preserve reimbursement, and skipping it does not automatically bar reimbursement; what it does is remove one equitable objection the district can raise, because federal law lets a hearing officer or a court reduce or deny reimbursement if you did not tell the district, before removing the child, that you were rejecting the placement it offered and enrolling privately at public expense (34 C.F.R. § 300.148(d)). You give that notice one of two ways: at the most recent IEP meeting before you remove the child, or in writing to the district at least 10 business days before the removal. This letter is the written route.

Count 10 business days, not calendar days, and count them back from the day the child actually leaves. Say three things plainly: that you reject the district’s proposed placement or program, why, and that you are enrolling your child privately and will seek public funding. Keep it factual. This notice does not win the reimbursement case, and it is not the only thing that governs the money: giving it reduces one potential equitable objection, and there are exceptions that bar or may bar any reduction even when you did not give it. Reimbursement must not be reduced or denied for lack of this notice if the school prevented you from giving it, if the district never informed you of your obligation to give it, or if giving it would likely result in physical harm to your child; and a hearing officer or court may, in its discretion, decline to reduce or deny reimbursement if you are not literate or cannot write in English, or if giving the notice would likely result in serious emotional harm to your child (34 C.F.R. § 300.148(e)). The case itself turns on the district’s program being inappropriate, your placement being appropriate, and the equities, and in New York you carry the burden on whether your private placement was appropriate (H-Tool 67; SRO Appeal No. 24-164; N.Y. Educ. Law § 4404(1)(c)).

Send it to: the CSE chairperson and the superintendent or special education office.