Independent Educational Evaluations in New Hampshire: Your Rights and How to Use Them

The school evaluated your child. You read the report and something feels wrong—the scores seem low, the observations don't match what you see at home, or the evaluator found nothing significant despite your child visibly struggling. In New Hampshire, you have a legally protected right to challenge that evaluation—and to demand that the school district pay for an outside one.

What an IEE Is

An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is a comprehensive assessment of your child conducted by a qualified professional who is not employed by, or under contract to, your school district. It is independent from the district's evaluation process in every way: the evaluator is selected by you (or with your input), uses their own professional judgment, and submits findings to you first.

The legal authority comes from the federal IDEA, implemented in New Hampshire through Ed 1107. If you disagree with any aspect of the district's evaluation—the methodology, the findings, the conclusions, or the resulting eligibility determination—you have the right to request an IEE at public expense.

What the SAU Must Do When You Request an IEE

When you submit a written request for an IEE at public expense, the SAU has only two legally permissible responses:

Option A: Fund the IEE. The district agrees to fund an independent evaluation that meets their criteria for evaluator qualifications and reasonable cost. They will typically provide you with a list of criteria (geographic area, credential requirements, cost limits). You do not have to choose from a district-approved list of evaluators, but the evaluator must meet the district's stated criteria.

Option B: File for due process. The district must immediately file a due process complaint to defend the appropriateness of its own evaluation. While this is pending, they do not have to fund the IEE—but they carry the full legal burden of proving their evaluation was appropriate.

What the SAU cannot do is delay, ask for your reasons, require you to justify your disagreement, or simply ignore your request. If they fail to respond promptly and in writing, they are in violation of their obligations under Ed 1107.

Important: Once you receive an IEE (whether privately funded or publicly funded), the IEP team is legally obligated to consider the results at the next team meeting. They do not have to agree with the findings—but they cannot ignore them or refuse to discuss them.

Why IEEs Matter So Much in New Hampshire

In most states, the IEE is a useful tool. In New Hampshire, it is often essential—particularly in smaller SAUs.

New Hampshire operates over 160 separate School Administrative Units. In rural areas, particularly the North Country, administrative bandwidth is severely constrained. It is common for a single professional to simultaneously serve as the evaluator, the primary service provider, and the IEP team chairperson. This is not an accident; it is a budget reality.

The research report on New Hampshire's special education landscape describes this directly: "the professional evaluating the child's needs is the exact same professional constrained by the district's limited budget and their own limited scheduling bandwidth." When the same person who evaluated your child also provides their services and chairs their IEP meeting, there is an inherent incentive to minimize findings that would require expensive external resources the district cannot easily provide.

An IEE breaks this loop. An external neuropsychologist, speech-language pathologist, or occupational therapist with no relationship to the district has no financial incentive to minimize your child's needs. Their report enters the IEP record with the same legal weight as the district's own evaluation.

Who Conducts IEEs in New Hampshire

Evaluators must hold credentials appropriate to the area being assessed. For psychological and cognitive evaluations in New Hampshire, evaluators must hold the Specialist in the Assessment of Intellectual Functioning (SAIF) credential. For speech-language evaluations, a certified SLP is required. For occupational therapy assessments, a licensed OT.

The district will specify geographic and credential criteria when they agree to fund the IEE. These criteria must be reasonable and cannot be set so narrowly that no qualified independent evaluator can meet them—that would effectively be a refusal to fund the IEE.

Evaluators practicing in the Manchester/Nashua corridor and the Seacoast region are generally more accessible. Families in the Lakes Region, North Country, or Western NH may face longer wait times and may need to look toward Concord, Keene, or even bordering Vermont or Maine-based evaluators. Costs for IEEs in New Hampshire typically range from $2,500 to $5,000 depending on the scope of assessment—which is why the public funding right matters.

How to Make the Request

Put it in writing. Address the letter to the SAU's Special Education Director. State clearly:

• You disagree with the district's evaluation of [date]
• You are requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense
• You are requesting a written response with the district's evaluation criteria within [5-10 business days]

Do not elaborate on why you disagree. You are not legally required to justify your request, and explaining your reasoning can give the district a starting point to argue your concerns are unfounded.

What Happens After the IEE

Once the IEE report is complete, provide it to the SAU and request an IEP team meeting to review the findings. The team must convene to discuss the results and consider whether changes to eligibility, goals, services, or placement are warranted.

If the IEE reveals significantly different findings than the district's evaluation—especially if it documents needs the district's evaluation missed—this is grounds for reopening every IEP decision that was based on the original flawed evaluation. That includes eligibility determinations, denied services, and contested placements.

The New Hampshire IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a template IEE request letter written specifically for New Hampshire Ed 1107 requirements, along with guidance on what to do if the SAU challenges your request or files for due process in response.

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