Independent Educational Evaluation in Kentucky: Your IEE Rights Under 707 KAR

The district evaluated your child and came back with results that do not match what you see at home, what the pediatrician is documenting, or what the private therapist has been saying for two years. The ARC used those results to deny eligibility or to justify a service level you believe is inadequate. You are wondering whether you are stuck with that conclusion.

You are not. Under 707 KAR 1:340 and federal IDEA, Kentucky parents have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense when they disagree with the district's evaluation.

What an IEE Is

An Independent Educational Evaluation is an assessment of your child conducted by a qualified examiner who has no employment relationship with the school district. It covers the same areas the district evaluated — cognitive ability, academic achievement, language, behavior, motor skills, autism-specific measures, or any combination — but is done by an independent professional you select.

The IEE is not a complaint. It is not an accusation that the district's evaluators were incompetent. It is a statutory right designed around the recognition that evaluations conducted by people who work for the district carry an inherent conflict of interest when their conclusions determine how much the district must spend.

When You Can Request an IEE

You can request an IEE any time you disagree with an evaluation the district has conducted. This includes:

• Initial evaluations that found no eligibility
• Reevaluations that led to a reduction in services
• Evaluations that found a disability but, in your view, underestimated its severity or missed areas of need
• Any evaluation you believe was incomplete, used inappropriate instruments, or drew conclusions not supported by the data

You do not need a specific technical objection. Disagreement with the results is sufficient. The district can ask why you disagree, but they cannot require an explanation before acting on your request.

The Process Under 707 KAR 1:340

Submit a written request. Address it to the special education director. State that you disagree with the district's evaluation conducted on [date] and are requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense. Name the areas you want evaluated if you have a preference.

The district must respond without unnecessary delay. Upon receiving your request, the district has two — and only two — options:

1. Agree to fund the IEE and provide you with their criteria for evaluators (required qualifications, geographic range, and cost limits that are consistent with what they use for their own evaluators)
2. File a due process complaint to demonstrate before a hearing officer that the district's evaluation was appropriate

The district cannot deny the request outright. They cannot ask you to wait while they deliberate. They cannot require board approval before responding. If they do any of these things, you can file a state complaint with the Kentucky Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Early Learning (OSEEL) documenting the failure to respond.

Select an evaluator. Once the district provides its criteria, you select any qualified evaluator who meets those criteria. You are not required to use evaluators the district prefers or recommends. The district pays the evaluator directly or reimburses you.

If the district files for due process instead. The burden in that hearing is on the district — they must prove their evaluation was appropriate. You are not required to prove it was flawed. If the hearing officer rules in the district's favor, you still retain the right to an IEE, but you pay for it yourself. If the officer rules in your favor, the district must fund the independent evaluation.

Rural Kentucky and the "No Evaluator Nearby" Problem

In Appalachian Kentucky and many rural counties across the state, the district may tell you they cannot comply with an IEE request because no qualified independent evaluators exist within their geographic criteria. This is not a valid legal excuse.

If no qualified evaluators exist within the criteria the district has established, the district must expand the geographic radius or make other arrangements to ensure you can access the evaluation. The absence of local providers does not extinguish your statutory right. If the district's criteria effectively make the IEE impossible to obtain, those criteria are too restrictive and must be revised.

How the IEE Is Used at the ARC

Once the IEE is complete, the ARC is legally required to consider the results. That means the report must be reviewed, discussed, and addressed in the meeting — the committee cannot ignore it or refuse to discuss findings they disagree with.

"Consider" does not mean "adopt." The ARC can disagree with the independent evaluator's conclusions, but if they do, they must explain that disagreement in the Conference Summary and in any Prior Written Notice they issue. A well-documented IEE that reaches different conclusions than the district's evaluation creates significant leverage, both in the ARC meeting and in any subsequent dispute resolution.

Request an ARC meeting specifically to review the IEE results. Ask the evaluator to participate by phone or in person if possible, or request they write a brief letter translating their recommendations into specific IEP goal and service language the ARC can use.

If the ARC Considers the IEE and Still Refuses

If the ARC reviews the independent evaluation and still refuses to change the eligibility determination or service levels, they must issue a Prior Written Notice that specifically addresses the IEE findings — what the evaluator concluded, what data supports those conclusions, why the ARC declined to act on the recommendations, and what other options were considered.

Read that Prior Written Notice carefully. If the reasoning is thin — if they are dismissing a comprehensive independent evaluation with a brief statement that the district's own evaluation remains valid — you have grounds to escalate. Options at that point include mediation through the KDE, a state complaint, or a due process hearing where the IEE report serves as your primary evidence.

Paying for an IEE Privately

You can also obtain an IEE at your own expense at any time, independent of the district. A privately funded evaluation carries the same "must consider" requirement at ARC meetings. The advantage is that you are not constrained by district-set criteria for evaluator selection. The practical cost of a private comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation in Kentucky typically runs from $1,500 to $3,000 or more depending on the scope and provider.

The Kentucky IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a ready-to-use IEE request letter, a guide to reviewing the district's evaluator criteria, and a checklist for using IEE results effectively in the ARC meeting under Kentucky's 707 KAR regulations.

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