Requesting and obtaining an Independent Educational Evaluation (“IEE”) at public cost can be one of the most valuable tools for special education advocacy because of both the information and leverage it can provide. To request an IEE at public cost, an attorney should send a letter by email to the principal or head of special education for the school of attendance if the LEA is not already being represented by counsel in the matter.1 When a parent requests an IEE at public cost, an LEA must either provide it or request a due process hearing to prove the LEA’s initial evaluation was appropriate, both of which can be costly and undesirable alternatives for the LEA.2 As a result, IEEs can provide valuable leverage in negotiations when the LEA wants to avoid the costs of the IEE or the expenditure of time and resources involved in due process proceedings.
If the LEA refuses the request for an IEE at public cost, the attorney should prepare to refute the LEA’s contention that its own evaluation is appropriate at a due process hearing. Alternatively, the LEA might agree to the IEE at public cost but then set up roadblocks that effectively prevent the parent from obtaining the IEE. For example, the LEA may attempt to cap the cost of an IEE at a level well below the market price or require that the evaluators be selected from a list of providers of questionable independence. The only restrictions an LEA may only impose concern the location of the evaluation and the qualifications of the examiner; these restrictions must be the same as those used by the LEA for initial evaluations.3
LEAs sometimes attempt to provide the IEE at public cost by offering to reimburse parents for the price of the IEE, which can cost thousands of dollars. Clients who are not wealthy may be unable to pay up front and then wait for reimbursement. While the regulations do not specify this level of logistics, once an LEA agrees to the request for an IEE it must “ensure that an independent educational evaluation is provided at public expense.”4 Attorneys who encounters an LEA using these kinds of tactics should use their advocacy skills to negotiate a solution and force the LEA to meet its obligations under the law.
- 1A template letter for requesting an IEE is provided in Section 9.
- 2See 34 C.F.R. 300.502(b)(2); La. Bulletin 1706 § 503(B)(2).
- 3La. Bulletin 1706 § 503(E).
- 4Id. § 503(B)(2)(b); 34 C.F.R. § 300.502(b)(2)(ii).