Generally, complaints must be filed within 180 days of the last act of alleged discrimination, although a waiver may be granted. OCR does not have jurisdiction for IDEA complaints. The IDEA provides parents with extensive procedural rights. However, IDEA also requires exhaustion of administrative process before a lawsuit may be filed. Parents that disagree about what a school has done, intends to do, or refuses to do, must request a due process hearing, in writing, from the school system.
Parents have the right to challenge any school decision affecting their child s education.
Frequently, bright minority students with learning disabilities are misdiagnosed on the basis of a test and assigned to remedial education programs that do not provide needed services. Similarly, national origin minority students with limited-English proficiency are often placed in special education programs based on tests given in English. Under the IDEA schools must ask parents permission to evaluate a child for special education before any evaluation is done. Parents also have the right to an outside evaluation . Once an IEP is in place, parents must be given notice of any changes planned in a child s educational placement and are entitled to regular progress reports .