How to Request Your Child's School Records in Delaware Special Education

Your child's school records are not the district's property — they belong to your child, and you have a federally guaranteed right to inspect and copy them. Most Delaware parents never exercise this right, which means they go into IEP meetings without the full picture. The evaluation reports that determined your child's eligibility, the progress monitoring data collected throughout the year, the psychologist's notes, the behavior data from the classroom — all of this is accessible to you, and reviewing it before a meeting is one of the highest-leverage things you can do as an advocate.

The Legal Basis: FERPA and Delaware's Procedural Safeguards

Two layers of federal law govern your right to school records. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gives parents of minor children the right to inspect and review the education records of their child at any federally funded school. The IDEA adds a second layer specifically for special education: under 14 DE Admin. Code 926 and the Delaware Procedural Safeguards, the district must:

• Permit parents to inspect and review any education records related to their child's identification, evaluation, educational placement, and FAPE
• Provide copies of records upon request
• Respond promptly — and specifically no later than 45 calendar days after a request

The 45-day limit applies to access, not just copies. If you ask to review records, the district cannot make you wait months while they "locate" documents. Forty-five calendar days is the outer boundary. Many districts respond much faster when requests arrive in writing.

What Counts as an Education Record

An education record under FERPA includes anything that is directly related to a student and maintained by the school or district. For special education purposes, this includes:

• The current IEP and all prior IEPs
• The Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) from initial and triennial evaluations
• All psychoeducational assessment protocols and scoring reports
• Speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy evaluation reports
• Progress monitoring data (DIBELS, AIMSweb, CBM data)
• Behavioral data and functional behavioral assessments
• Prior Written Notices (PWNs) issued by the district
• Meeting notes and team documentation
• Correspondence between the district and parents that is maintained in the student file
• Report cards and standardized test results

Draft documents — documents that are not intended to be retained — may not be subject to FERPA. However, once a document is maintained in the student's file, it is an education record.

How to Make the Request

Do not call — write. A written records request creates a paper trail and starts the clock on the district's 45-day obligation.

Send an email (with read receipt if possible) or a certified letter to the special education coordinator for your building or district. Your request should:

1. State that you are the parent or legal guardian of the student
2. Identify your child by name and date of birth
3. Request all education records relating to your child's special education services, including evaluations, IEPs, progress monitoring data, and any correspondence in the student file
4. State that you are making this request pursuant to FERPA and 14 DE Admin. Code 926
5. Ask for a written confirmation of receipt and the date by which you will receive the records

You do not need to explain why you want the records. You do not need to state that you are planning to dispute anything. You are simply exercising a legal right.

What the District Can Charge You

Under FERPA and the IDEA, districts may charge a fee for copies of records — but only if the fee does not effectively prevent parents from exercising their right to access the records. If the fee would be prohibitive, the district must waive it or reduce it. Typically, districts charge per-page copy fees (often around $0.10-$0.25 per page). Some districts provide records electronically at no charge.

The district cannot charge you a fee simply to inspect records — only for copies. If you want to review records without copying them, the district must allow that inspection at no cost.

What to Do with the Records When You Get Them

Receiving records is not the same as knowing what to look for. Here is what to examine first:

The most recent Evaluation Summary Report (ESR). This is the assessment that determined your child's eligibility and identified their disability and needs. Read it carefully: Does it include all the relevant areas? Are the scores presented with standard scores, not just percentiles? Are the conclusions consistent with what you observe at home and what teachers have reported?

The PLAAFP in the current IEP. Compare the present levels in the IEP to the scores in the evaluation report. They should be consistent — the PLAAFP should directly reflect what the evaluation found. If the PLAAFP contains vague statements while the evaluation contains specific data, the IEP team cherry-picked what to include.

Progress monitoring data. Pull out the raw CBM scores or other progress data. Is there a consistent upward trend? Are there long gaps in data collection? Is there any data at all?

Prior Written Notices. Every time the district proposed or refused to provide a service, it was required to issue a PWN. Review these to understand what proposals have been made and refused over the course of your child's education.

Correspondence file. Review any letters or emails the district has kept. This tells you what conversations are already part of the official record — and sometimes reveals documents you did not realize existed.

The Delaware IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a records review checklist that walks you through each section of a Delaware special education file and identifies the specific red flags to look for in evaluation reports, IEPs, and progress data.

When the District Refuses or Delays

If the district does not respond within 45 calendar days, or refuses to provide records you have lawfully requested, you have several options:

• File a complaint with the Delaware Department of Education's Exceptional Children Resources (ECR) workgroup, citing the district's violation of 14 DE Admin. Code 926
• File a FERPA complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office
• Contact the Parent Information Center of Delaware (PIC) for assistance navigating the request

In practice, a second written request citing the specific regulation and the elapsed time from your first request is often enough to prompt the district to comply. Districts do not want a FERPA complaint on their record.

Records for the IEP Meeting: Timing Matters

If you are preparing for an upcoming IEP meeting, do not wait until the last minute to request records. Request them at least two to three weeks before the meeting date. This gives you time to receive the documents, review them, and formulate specific questions or objections before you sit down at the table.

Delaware law gives parents the right to review records prior to any meeting regarding the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or FAPE of their child. This right is meaningless if you make the request two days before the meeting and the records arrive afterward.

For initial evaluation or triennial reevaluation meetings, request the Evaluation Summary Report specifically. You have the right to review it before the eligibility meeting — not have it presented to you for the first time across the table from a team of district professionals who have already read it.

The Delaware IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a pre-meeting records request template and a preparation timeline so you arrive at every IEP meeting having read what the district has already decided about your child.

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