Independent Educational Evaluation in Montana: Your Right to a Second Opinion at Public Expense

The school just handed you an evaluation report that says your child doesn't qualify for special education, or that qualifies them for far fewer services than you believe they need. You've seen what your child struggles with every day. The numbers on paper don't match your reality. What you may not know is that you don't have to accept the district's evaluation as final. Montana law gives you the right to an Independent Educational Evaluation — and under specific circumstances, the district must pay for it.

What an IEE Is

An Independent Educational Evaluation is a comprehensive evaluation of your child conducted by a qualified professional who is not employed by or affiliated with your school district. The evaluator is chosen independently of the district and performs their own assessment — cognitive testing, academic achievement testing, speech and language evaluation, occupational therapy assessment, behavioral evaluation, or any other area the district evaluated or should have evaluated.

"At public expense" means the district pays for the evaluation directly, or reimburses you after the fact if you've already paid. Under ARM 10.16.3504 and the federal IDEA regulations it implements, your right to request an IEE at public expense is clearly established. The district cannot simply ignore the request or tell you to find your own evaluator and pay out of pocket.

When You Can Request an IEE

You can request an IEE at public expense any time you disagree with the district's evaluation — its evaluation of your child for purposes of eligibility, placement, or program planning. Disagreements can include:

• The eligibility determination (the district found no disability, or found the wrong category)
• The adequacy of the evaluation (not enough areas were assessed, observations were too brief or in too few settings)
• Specific findings within the report (test scores interpreted in a way you believe is inaccurate, functional descriptions that don't reflect your child's real performance)
• An evaluation that failed to assess an area you believe is relevant (no behavioral assessment when behavior is clearly a concern, no OT assessment when motor issues are affecting schoolwork)

You are entitled to one IEE at public expense for each district evaluation you disagree with. You do not need to explain or justify your disagreement in detail to trigger the right. You simply need to communicate that you disagree and request an IEE.

What the District Must Do

Under ARM 10.16.3504, when you request an IEE at public expense, the district has exactly two options:

Option 1: Fund the IEE. The district provides or arranges for an independent evaluation at no cost to you, conducted by a qualified evaluator the district agrees is qualified.

Option 2: File for due process. The district files for a due process hearing to defend the appropriateness of its own evaluation. The burden falls on the district to demonstrate that its evaluation was appropriate. If the hearing officer finds in your favor, the district must fund the IEE.

The district cannot refuse outright, delay indefinitely, or try to talk you out of requesting one. If they choose option 2 and file for due process, they take on the burden and the cost of that hearing. Many districts will simply fund the IEE rather than go to a hearing, especially if the parent's request is clearly documented and the evaluation had legitimate gaps.

The Criteria Trap: What Districts Try to Do

Once a district agrees to fund an IEE, they may present you with criteria for the evaluator — credentials required, geographic area, cost limits. Criteria are permitted under IDEA as long as they are the same criteria the district uses for its own evaluations. They cannot use criteria to effectively prevent you from getting an independent evaluation.

In rural Montana, this becomes a real issue. A district might specify that the evaluator must be within 50 miles. In eastern Montana, western Montana outside the larger towns, or in the Hi-Line corridor, there may simply be no qualified independent evaluator within that radius. A geographic restriction that eliminates all available evaluators is functionally a denial — and that is not a lawful criterion.

Federal guidance makes clear that cost criteria cannot restrict parents to an unreasonably narrow range. If you believe the district's criteria are designed to make an IEE practically impossible to obtain, document that argument in writing and consider requesting OPI involvement or a state complaint.

Finding an Evaluator in Montana: The Practical Reality

This is where rural Montana creates a genuine logistical challenge. Montana has a small population distributed across a very large state. Qualified independent evaluators — licensed psychologists, neuropsychologists, speech-language pathologists, OTs, BCBAs — are concentrated in Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Helena, and Bozeman. If your family is in a rural district, traveling to one of those cities for an evaluation may be necessary.

Billings and Missoula have the most options for full neuropsychological evaluations. Great Falls and Helena have smaller but real provider communities. For speech-language or OT-specific IEEs, private practitioners in larger towns may offer these services on an outpatient basis.

For families with travel constraints — financial, logistical, or related to work schedules — some evaluators offer remote intake and telehealth components for portions of the assessment, with in-person sessions for the testing components that require it. Ask specifically about this when you contact evaluators.

The district is paying for the evaluation, but travel costs for the parent are typically not covered. If travel is a barrier, document this and discuss it with the district — some districts will arrange for the evaluator to travel to the student rather than the reverse, particularly for speech-language or OT assessments.

How to Request an IEE in Writing

Your request should be in writing and directed to the district's special education director. Keep it simple:

"I disagree with the evaluation of [child's name] completed on [date] by [district name]. I am requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense under IDEA and ARM 10.16.3504."

You do not need to specify what you disagree with or why in the initial request. After submitting, confirm receipt in writing if you don't hear back within a few business days. The district's response — either funding the IEE or filing for due process — should come promptly.

How the IEE Factors into the IEP

Once the IEE is complete, the district must consider the results when making decisions about your child's education. "Consider" does not mean "automatically adopt." The district can disagree with the IEE's findings. But the IEE becomes part of the educational record and must be discussed at the IEP team meeting. When an IEE from a well-credentialed independent evaluator contradicts the district's findings, it significantly changes the dynamics at the table.

If the IEE identifies services or supports the district refuses to provide, the IEE findings are powerful evidence in a subsequent state complaint or due process proceeding. Hearing officers and OPI investigators take well-conducted independent evaluations seriously — particularly when the district evaluation had clear methodological gaps.

If You've Already Paid for a Private Evaluation

A private evaluation you funded out of pocket is not technically an IEE at public expense — it's your own evaluation. The distinction matters procedurally. However, the district must still consider your private evaluation if you submit it as part of the child's educational record. If the district then conducts its own evaluation that contradicts your private evaluation, you can disagree with that district evaluation and formally request an IEE at public expense under ARM 10.16.3504.

The Montana IEP & 504 Guide walks through the full evaluation and IEE process under Montana's ARM rules — including what to do when a district's criteria are obstructive, how to document your disagreement effectively, and how IEE results connect to eligibility disputes and state complaints.

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