California IEP timelines are set by both federal law and the California Education Code, and each stage of the process has its own day count. From the initial referral, the district has 15 calendar days to send you an assessment plan. Once you sign that plan, it has 60 days to complete evaluations and hold the initial IEP meeting. A parent-requested IEP meeting must happen within 30 days of a written request. Records requests must be honored within five business days. And you have two years to file a due process complaint from the date you knew or should have known about a violation. Missing any of these can amount to a denial of a free appropriate public education (FAPE), and there are two enforcement paths for holding the district to them.
Here is what each deadline requires, and what your options are when the district lets one slide.
Referral to Assessment Plan: 15 Days
The clock starts the moment someone refers your child for a special education evaluation. That referral can come from you, a teacher, or another school staff member. Once the district receives it, it has 15 calendar days to send you a written assessment plan describing the evaluations it proposes to conduct.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56043 Along with the plan, the district must include a copy of your procedural safeguards notice.
The 15-day window pauses during school vacations longer than five school days, so winter and summer breaks don’t count against the district. If the referral arrives within 10 days of the end of the school year, the district has until the first 10 days of the next school year to deliver the plan.2California Department of Education. Official Letter
Assessment and Initial IEP Meeting: 60 Days
After you sign and return the assessment plan, the district has 60 calendar days to finish all assessments and hold the initial IEP team meeting. That 60-day period also excludes vacation days longer than five school days and days between regular school sessions.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56043 You can agree in writing to an extension, but the district cannot push the deadline on its own.
At that initial meeting, the team determines whether your child qualifies. If the answer is yes, a tighter sub-deadline applies: the team must develop the initial IEP within 30 days of the eligibility determination.3California Legislative Information. California Education Code 56344 Most districts handle eligibility and IEP development in the same meeting, but when they don’t, this 30-day sub-deadline prevents the process from dragging on.
When Services Must Begin
Once the IEP is finalized and you consent, services must begin “as soon as possible.”1California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56043 California law gives the district no grace period. Whatever services, frequency, and duration the IEP specifies should start on or very near the start date in the document. A district that waits weeks to line up a speech therapist or find a classroom aide is not meeting this standard.
Parent-Requested IEP Meetings: 30 Days
You don’t have to wait for the annual review to raise concerns. Put your request in writing, and the district must hold the meeting within 30 calendar days of receiving it. That timeline pauses during school vacations longer than five school days.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56043
This is one of the most underused tools parents have. If your child’s behavior has changed, if a service isn’t working, or if you’ve gotten a private evaluation with new recommendations, a written request forces the district to the table quickly. Districts that try to push you to the next scheduled annual review are violating this timeline.
Annual Reviews and Triennial Reassessments
The IEP team must meet at least once every 12 months to review progress, update goals, and adjust services and placement. The IEP should be current at the start of each school year, so most districts schedule annual reviews in the spring. If the district lets 12 months lapse without holding a review, it has missed a mandatory deadline.
A full reassessment must occur at least once every three years. This is the triennial review. You and the district can agree in writing to skip it if you both believe new testing is unnecessary.4California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56381 Reassessments can happen more often than every three years, but no more than once a year unless you both agree.
Transfer Students
When a child with an existing California IEP transfers into a new district in the state, the receiving district must immediately begin providing services comparable to those in the prior IEP. The district then has up to 30 days to either adopt the existing IEP or develop and implement a new one.5California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56325
For students transferring from out of state, the same principle applies: comparable services now, while the district conducts any evaluations it deems necessary and develops a new California IEP. There should be no gap in services because the family moved.
Transition Planning
No later than the first IEP that will be in effect when your child turns 16, the IEP must include measurable post-secondary goals and transition services. The team updates those goals annually from that point forward.1California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 56043 The team can start earlier if that’s appropriate, and many families push to do so.
Records Requests: 5 Business Days
You have an absolute right to inspect and review every educational record the district maintains on your child. When you make a request, the district must grant access within five business days.6California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 49069.7 The district cannot edit or withhold records. If records are stored in different locations, the district must tell you where to find them and make qualified staff available to help you interpret them.
This five-day window is tighter than the federal 45-day standard under FERPA, and it matters most when you’re preparing for an IEP meeting or considering a dispute. Request records early enough to review them before any meeting.
Independent Educational Evaluations
If you disagree with the district’s assessment, you can request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. The district must respond without unnecessary delay by either agreeing to pay for the outside evaluation or filing a due process complaint to defend its own assessment.7U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.502 Independent Educational Evaluation There is no middle ground. The district cannot ignore your request, ask you to wait, or demand that you justify your disagreement first.
Neither federal nor California law puts a precise day count on “without unnecessary delay.” That gives the district no concrete deadline to hide behind, but it also means you may need to follow up if the district stalls. If weeks pass without a response, the delay itself becomes grounds for a compliance complaint.
Discipline Timelines
When a school decides to suspend, expel, or otherwise change the placement of a student with an IEP for more than 10 consecutive school days, or when a pattern of shorter removals totals more than 10 school days in a year, a special set of timelines applies. The IEP team must hold a manifestation determination review within 10 school days of the decision to change placement.8U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.510 Resolution Process At that review, the team decides whether the behavior that led to discipline was caused by or substantially related to the child’s disability.
If the team finds the behavior was a manifestation of the disability, the child generally returns to the prior placement and the team revisits the behavioral plan. If you disagree with either the manifestation determination or the placement decision, you can request an expedited due process hearing. Expedited hearings run on a compressed schedule. The resolution meeting must occur within 7 calendar days of the request. If the dispute isn’t resolved within 15 days, the hearing must be held within 20 school days. The hearing officer then has 10 school days to issue a decision, with no extensions allowed.
Dispute Resolution Deadlines
The Two-Year Statute of Limitations
You can file a due process complaint about any matter related to identification, evaluation, placement, or the provision of FAPE. The filing deadline is two years from the date you knew or should have known about the action you’re challenging.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1415 – Procedural Safeguards That window is a hard cutoff. If you suspect the district is violating your child’s rights, document your concerns and act before the clock runs.
Resolution Session and Hearing
Once you file, the district has 15 calendar days to convene a resolution session. That meeting must include a district representative with decision-making authority and the relevant IEP team members, and the district cannot bring an attorney unless you do.8U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.510 Resolution Process Both sides can agree in writing to skip the resolution session or use mediation instead.
If the complaint isn’t resolved within 30 days, the case moves to a formal due process hearing. An administrative law judge must issue a final decision within 45 calendar days from the end of the 30-day resolution period.8U.S. Department of Education. Sec. 300.510 Resolution Process When both parties waive the resolution meeting in writing, the 45-day hearing timeline starts the next day.
Stay-Put During Disputes
While any due process proceeding is pending, your child has the right to remain in their current educational placement. The district cannot pull services, change the classroom, or reduce supports while the dispute plays out. This protection continues until the hearing is resolved or you and the district agree to something different.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1415 – Procedural Safeguards
When the District Misses a Deadline
A missed timeline is more than a late arrival. It can constitute a denial of FAPE, which opens the door to remedies. There are two main enforcement paths.
You can file a compliance complaint with the California Department of Education’s Special Education Division if the district has violated a timeline within the past year. The CDE must investigate and issue a decision within 60 calendar days of receiving a complete complaint, though that period can be extended in exceptional circumstances.10California Department of Education. Complaint Process – Quality Assurance Process Compliance complaints are free to file and don’t require a lawyer, making them the most accessible option for most families.
For more significant violations, a due process hearing can result in an order for compensatory education, designed to make up for services your child should have received but didn’t. Compensatory education can take many forms: extra therapy sessions, extended school year services, reimbursement for private services you paid for out of pocket, or additional time in the special education program. The two-year statute of limitations for due process claims also applies to compensatory education requests, so the longer you wait, the less recovery is available.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1415 – Procedural Safeguards