The IEP Process in South Dakota: From Referral to Annual Review

Most parents get their first real look at how the IEP process works only after something has already gone wrong. The school was supposed to complete the evaluation by a certain date. The meeting happened without enough notice. The services written into the IEP were never actually delivered. By then, weeks or months have passed, and the parent has no clear picture of what the timeline was supposed to look like or what rights they had along the way.

South Dakota's IEP process has a defined sequence of steps, each governed by specific timelines in ARSD 24:05. Understanding that sequence before a crisis — or early in one — puts you in a position to hold districts accountable to their legal obligations rather than simply accepting whatever timeline the school offers.

Step 1: Referral and Child Find

The IEP process begins with a referral — a formal request to evaluate a child for special education eligibility. Referrals can come from parents, teachers, physicians, or other professionals. South Dakota school districts also have an independent legal obligation called "Child Find" under ARSD 24:05, which requires them to actively identify, locate, and evaluate all children with suspected disabilities, regardless of whether a parent has requested anything.

If your child is struggling and the school has not initiated evaluation on its own, you can and should make a written referral yourself. This does not need to be a formal legal document. A dated letter or email to the building principal or the district's special education director stating that you suspect your child has a disability and requesting a full evaluation is sufficient to trigger the school's obligations.

Why written? Because it creates a paper trail and starts the clock. An oral request at a teacher conference or hallway conversation does not trigger the formal timeline — and some districts, intentionally or not, will not treat it as if it does.

Step 2: Prior Written Notice and Consent

After receiving a referral, the district must provide you with a Parental Prior Written Notice (PPWN) describing what they propose to do — conduct an evaluation — and why. This notice must also list alternative options considered, what data the decision is based on, and parent procedural safeguards.

Before any evaluation begins, the district must obtain your informed written consent. This is not a formality. You are agreeing to a specific evaluation plan covering specific areas. Read it carefully. If you believe additional areas of concern should be assessed — behavior, motor skills, adaptive functioning, emotional state — you can request they be included before you sign.

One important legal clarification: consenting to the evaluation does not mean you are consenting to services. Those are two separate consent decisions. You can agree to the evaluation to get information, review the results, and then decide whether to consent to the services the IEP team recommends.

Step 3: The 25-School-Day Evaluation Timeline

Once you sign the consent form, South Dakota law gives the district exactly 25 school days to complete the full individual evaluation.

This timeline is one of the most important and most misunderstood aspects of the South Dakota IEP process. The critical word is school days, not calendar days. In a standard five-day-week district, 25 school days is about five weeks. But in a district operating on a four-day school week — which is increasingly common in rural South Dakota, where many districts have adopted Monday-through-Thursday schedules — 25 school days can stretch to more than seven calendar weeks.

If your district is on a four-day week, calculate the actual calendar dates accordingly before assuming the evaluation should be done. A school that appears to be dragging its feet may be technically within its legal window. Conversely, if you have counted the school days and the timeline has passed without a completed evaluation, you are within your rights to request in writing that the district explain the delay.

Extensions are permitted only in narrow circumstances: if both parties agree in writing, or if the child transfers to a new South Dakota district mid-process. If the timeline is extended, the completed evaluation, eligibility determination, and initial IEP meeting must all occur within 30 days of the end of the extended period.

Step 4: The Evaluation Itself

A comprehensive initial evaluation must assess your child in all areas of suspected disability using multiple tools and sources. No single test score can be the sole basis for determining eligibility. In South Dakota, the evaluation typically includes:

• A review of existing records, teacher input, and parent observations
• Cognitive/intellectual assessment (usually conducted by the school psychologist)
• Academic achievement testing
• Assessments in specific areas of concern — language, motor skills, behavior, adaptive skills, as applicable
• A review of health and developmental history

If your district outsources evaluation services to a cooperative, the school psychologist who conducts the assessment may be a cooperative employee who travels to your district periodically. This can create scheduling complications. Districts are still bound by the 25-school-day window regardless of the cooperative's calendar.

Step 5: Eligibility Determination

Within the 25-school-day window, the evaluation team meets to review the assessment results and determine whether the child is eligible for special education services. The team includes parents, the school psychologist or evaluator, and other relevant professionals.

To be found eligible, two conditions must both be true:

1. The child meets criteria for one or more of the 13 disability categories under ARSD 24:05:24.01
2. The disability causes the child to require specialized instruction to make meaningful progress in the general curriculum

If eligibility is confirmed, the evaluation report must document the disability category, the specific data supporting the determination, and the educational impact of the disability. You receive a copy of this report and a new PPWN explaining the eligibility decision.

If eligibility is denied, you receive a written explanation and your procedural rights — including the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense if you disagree with the school's evaluation. The district then has a choice: either agree to fund an outside evaluation or immediately file for due process to defend its evaluation as appropriate.

Step 6: The Initial IEP Meeting

If your child is found eligible, an IEP meeting must be convened and the initial IEP developed and implemented as soon as possible following the eligibility determination — South Dakota practice targets this within 30 days of the eligibility meeting.

The IEP meeting must include, at minimum: at least one of your child's regular education teachers, at least one special education teacher, a district representative who has authority to commit resources, someone who can interpret evaluation data (often the school psychologist who conducted the assessment), and you. Related service providers should attend when their service area is being discussed. For transition-age students, the student themselves should be included.

This meeting is where the IEP document is built. The team reviews present levels of performance, sets measurable annual goals, decides what specialized instruction and related services will be provided, determines placement within the least restrictive environment, and documents accommodations and modifications.

What to do before this meeting: Request a draft IEP and the evaluation report at least three days in advance. South Dakota Parent Connection recommends this explicitly. Walking into an IEP meeting with no advance review of the data puts you in a reactive position at a table already stacked with professionals who reviewed the information beforehand.

Step 7: Implementation

Once the IEP is signed, services should begin as quickly as possible. In South Dakota, the timeline for implementation is not left to the district's convenience — it should begin immediately, or as soon as practically feasible given scheduling and staffing.

This is where the cooperative delivery model creates real friction for rural families. If the speech therapist serving your district only comes to town on Tuesdays and has a full caseload, the IEP may technically be written and signed, but your child may not receive services for weeks. This is not legally acceptable. The IEP's service delivery dates and frequencies are binding. If services are delayed past what the IEP specifies, document it in writing and raise it directly with the district's special education coordinator — not the cooperative's employee.

Cooperative Involvement: Who Is Actually Responsible?

If your child's IEP is delivered through a cooperative — which is likely if you are in a rural district served by any of South Dakota's 13 regional cooperatives — the accountability structure can feel opaque. The speech therapist works for the cooperative. The school psychologist works for the cooperative. But your school district — the Local Educational Agency — is the legally responsible entity.

This means that if a cooperative employee fails to deliver IEP services, or if there is a staffing turnover that leaves your child without a provider, the LEA cannot use the cooperative's employment situation as a defense. The LEA must ensure FAPE is delivered, whether that means contracting with a private provider, arranging telehealth delivery that is explicitly documented in the IEP, or finding another solution. "We cannot find anyone to fill the position" is not a legally valid reason to deny a student their mandated services.

Annual Review: What Must Happen Every Year

Every IEP must be reviewed at least once every twelve months. The annual review is not a rubber stamp of the previous year's document — it is an opportunity to assess whether the child met their goals, revise goals for the coming year, adjust services up or down based on data, and revisit placement.

The annual review must include all required IEP team members. Districts sometimes hold "IEP progress meetings" or informal check-ins as substitutes, but these do not fulfill the legal annual review requirement. If twelve months have passed without a formal meeting including all required team members and a revised IEP document, the district is out of compliance.

Parents can also request an IEP meeting outside the annual review cycle at any time. If you believe your child's needs have changed, or that services are not being implemented, or that the current IEP is not producing meaningful progress, you do not have to wait for the annual review date.

Triennial Reevaluation

Every three years — unless both the parent and district agree in writing that a reevaluation is unnecessary — the district must conduct a full reevaluation to determine whether the child continues to be eligible for special education. This is called the triennial reevaluation.

The three-year evaluation follows the same 25-school-day timeline and requires the same consent process as the initial evaluation. It reassesses the child's current levels of performance and confirms continued eligibility — or concludes that the child no longer meets the criteria for special education.

If you disagree with the school's reevaluation results, the same rights apply as with the initial evaluation: you can request an IEE at public expense or file a state complaint.

Extended School Year (ESY)

During the IEP process — at any annual review or meeting — the team must explicitly consider whether the child needs Extended School Year services. ESY provides specialized instruction during the summer or other extended breaks at no cost to the family.

The primary criterion for ESY is regression and recoupment: will the child lose skills during the break that will take an unreasonable amount of time to relearn? South Dakota law under ARSD 24:05:25:26 prohibits districts from categorically denying ESY for specific disability types or capping ESY services based on administrative preference. Each determination must be made individually based on the child's data.

Knowing these steps is one thing. Knowing how to document problems, how to communicate with the district in writing, and how to use South Dakota's complaint process when the timeline slips — that is where most parents need specific guidance. The South Dakota IEP & 504 Blueprint walks through each stage of the process with actionable strategies built around South Dakota's specific administrative rules and cooperative structure.

The IEP process is supposed to protect your child's right to an education. When you know the rules as well as the district does, you can make sure it actually does.

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