What to Do When Your Maryland School Refuses or Delays a Special Education Evaluation

You've raised your concerns. You've attended the parent-teacher conference. You've asked the counselor. And now the school is either ignoring you or telling you to wait — wait for the MTSS interventions, wait for the Student Support Team process, wait until they have more data. Meanwhile, your child is falling further behind.

Maryland law gives you specific, enforceable rights in this situation. The school district cannot legally stall your formal evaluation request once it is submitted in writing. Here is how to use those rights effectively.

Step One: Understand What Triggers the Legal Timeline

Maryland COMAR 13A.05.01 and the federal IDEA are triggered by one specific action: a written referral for a special education evaluation. Not a verbal conversation with a teacher. Not a meeting with the school counselor. A written request.

Once a Maryland school receives a written referral expressing a suspicion that a child has a disability, a 90-calendar-day clock begins. Within those 90 days, the school must:

1. Convene an IEP team to review existing data
2. Determine whether a formal assessment is warranted
3. Seek your informed written consent to evaluate
4. Complete all assessments within 60 days of your signed consent
5. Hold an eligibility meeting to determine if your child qualifies for special education

These are not targets or suggestions. They are legal deadlines. If the district misses them, it has violated COMAR and you can file an MSDE state complaint.

If you have been having verbal conversations with the school about your concerns but have not yet put your evaluation request in writing, the 90-day clock has not started. Start it now.

How to Write the Evaluation Request Letter

Your evaluation request does not need to be lengthy or formally worded. It needs to be specific and written. Here is the essential structure:

Dear [Principal name] and IEP Chairperson,

I am writing to formally request a comprehensive special education evaluation for my child, [child's name], currently enrolled in [grade] at [school name], under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and COMAR 13A.05.01.04.

I have observed the following concerns that lead me to suspect my child may have a disability: [describe specific academic, behavioral, or functional difficulties — be concrete, not vague].

I understand that the 90-calendar-day evaluation timeline begins from the date of this written referral. I am available to discuss next steps at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely, [Your name, date, contact information]

Send this by email so you have an automatic timestamp. If you hand-deliver it, get a written acknowledgment. Keep a copy.

Add one sentence if the school has been pushing MTSS interventions: "While I support the school's MTSS efforts, I am not withdrawing this evaluation request, and I understand the 90-day COMAR timeline is not tolled by the MTSS process."

Why Schools Delay: The MTSS Bypass Problem

The most common delay tactic Maryland parents encounter is the school insisting that your child must complete Tier 2 or Tier 3 MTSS interventions before a formal evaluation referral will be accepted. In some counties — particularly Montgomery County's EMT system, Baltimore County's SST, and Prince George's County's SIT — this pre-referral filtering process is deeply institutionalized.

This tactic is unlawful. COMAR and federal IDEA guidance are clear: the existence of an ongoing general education intervention program cannot be used to deny or delay a parent's explicit written request for a special education evaluation. The data collected through MTSS is relevant — the evaluation team must consider prior interventions when determining eligibility — but it is not a prerequisite.

If the school tells you your child must finish another eight weeks of Tier 2 interventions before they will accept your referral, respond in writing. Acknowledge that you support the interventions continuing but state clearly that your written referral request stands and the 90-day clock is running.

When the School Issues a Formal Denial

If the school reviews your request and decides a formal evaluation is not warranted, it must issue a Prior Written Notice (PWN) explaining its refusal. The PWN must:

• Describe the action the school is refusing to take (conduct a special education evaluation)
• Explain the school's reasoning
• List the options the team considered and why they were rejected
• Identify the data and evaluations the school relied upon

A school cannot simply say "we don't think your child needs special education" and move on. It must provide the formal written explanation. If you receive a PWN denying your evaluation request, read it carefully. The school's stated reasoning tells you exactly where to push back.

If the reasons are weak — "the student's grades are adequate" when your child is clearly struggling behaviorally or has a private diagnosis you've shared — document the gap between the school's reasoning and the evidence you have. This documentation becomes the basis for your state complaint or due process filing.

Your Escalation Pathway

If the school is not complying with your written evaluation request or has issued an inadequate denial, you have a clear escalation pathway:

MSDE Facilitated IEP Meeting. Request that MSDE assign a trained facilitator to help the school and family reach agreement on whether to proceed with an evaluation. This is a low-stakes, non-adversarial first step.

State Complaint to MSDE. If the school has violated a specific procedural requirement — missed a deadline, refused a valid written request without proper PWN, failed to send consent forms within the required window — file a state complaint. This is free, requires no attorney, and MSDE must complete its investigation within 60 days. If the violation is documented, MSDE can order the district to conduct the evaluation and may award compensatory services if your child was harmed by the delay.

Mediation. Maryland offers free voluntary mediation through MSDE. A trained, neutral mediator facilitates a discussion between you and district representatives. Mediation agreements are binding.

Due Process Hearing. If informal resolution fails and the district is denying your child a Free Appropriate Public Education, you can file for a due process hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. This is the most formal option and often warrants legal representation.

Most evaluation disputes are resolved before reaching due process. Filing a state complaint is often sufficient — it creates an official record, triggers MSDE oversight, and typically motivates districts to comply quickly.

What If the School Evaluated and Found "No Eligibility"?

If COMAR timelines were followed but the district concluded your child does not qualify for special education, you have two primary options:

Request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. If you disagree with the district's evaluation, submit a written IEE request. The district has 30 days to either fund the IEE or file a due process complaint defending its own evaluation. Many districts fund IEEs rather than go to a hearing.

Challenge the eligibility determination. If the IEE concludes differently from the district's evaluation, you can request that the IEP team reconvene to reconsider eligibility in light of the new data. The district must consider the IEE results — it is not required to accept them wholesale, but it must weigh them.

The Maryland IEP & 504 Blueprint includes evaluation request templates, timeline trackers, and the specific COMAR citations you need to move this process forward. If you're past the verbal-request phase and your child still hasn't been evaluated, your next step is putting it in writing today.

The Child Find Obligation: The School's Duty to Find Your Child

Even before you submit a written request, Maryland school districts operate under a proactive Child Find obligation. Under both IDEA and COMAR, every Maryland LEA is legally required to identify, locate, and evaluate all children within its jurisdiction suspected of having a disability — including children in public schools, private schools, home schools, and other settings.

This means that if your child's teachers and school records clearly suggest a disability and the school has done nothing, the district may already be violating its Child Find obligations. You don't have to wait for the school to act. Submit your written referral, cite Child Find if appropriate, and trigger the timeline yourself.

No child should lose months of appropriate education because a district chose administrative convenience over legal compliance.

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