Manifestation Determination in Wisconsin: What Happens When Your Child with an IEP Faces Discipline

Your child has an IEP and the school is now talking about suspension, expulsion, or a change in placement because of a disciplinary incident. Before any of that happens, federal and Wisconsin law requires a specific process called a Manifestation Determination Review. What the team decides at that meeting determines everything about what happens next — including whether your child keeps their current educational placement and services.

What Triggers a Manifestation Determination Review

A Manifestation Determination Review (MDR) is required whenever a school district decides to remove a student with a disability for disciplinary reasons in a way that constitutes a change of placement.

Under IDEA, a change of placement due to discipline occurs when:

• The student is removed for more than 10 consecutive school days, or
• The student has been subjected to a series of shorter removals that cumulatively total more than 10 school days in a school year, and the pattern of removals constitutes a change of placement

Wisconsin districts are required to notify parents and convene the MDR within 10 school days of the decision to impose such a removal.

Note that short suspensions of 10 days or fewer do not automatically trigger an MDR — but a pattern of repeated short suspensions that collectively exceed 10 days in a year and amount to a change of placement does. If your child has been sent home repeatedly and no MDR has been scheduled, request one in writing.

What the Team Must Decide

At the MDR, the IEP team — which includes the parents — must answer two questions:

1. Was the conduct caused by, or did it have a direct and substantial relationship to, the child's disability?

This requires looking at the behavior in the context of what the disability actually does to the child. For a student with autism, a meltdown triggered by sensory overload may be directly caused by the disability even if the specific form the behavior took is new. For a student with ADHD, impulsive behavior during an unstructured situation may have a direct and substantial relationship to the disability's effect on executive function and impulse control.

The team reviews the child's IEP, behavioral data, evaluation reports, and relevant contextual information. This is not a judicial proceeding — it is an educational team decision. But it has legal consequences.

2. Was the conduct the direct result of the district's failure to implement the IEP?

Even if the behavior is not directly caused by the disability, the district cannot discipline a student if the incident occurred because the district failed to implement the IEP. If a service was not being delivered, an accommodation was not in place, or the BIP was not being followed at the time of the incident, that failure matters.

If the Behavior IS a Manifestation

If the team determines — or if you successfully argue — that the behavior is a manifestation of the disability:

• The district cannot proceed with the suspension or expulsion
• The district must conduct a Functional Behavior Assessment if one has not already been done
• The district must develop or revise a Behavior Intervention Plan
• The student must be returned to the placement from which they were removed, unless the parent and district agree to a change of placement as part of a revised BIP

This is a protective mechanism. The logic is straightforward: you cannot discipline a student for something they did because of their disability without first ensuring that the school has taken every step to understand and support the behavior.

If the Behavior Is NOT a Manifestation

If the team determines the behavior was not a manifestation of the disability, the district may impose the same disciplinary consequences it would apply to a student without a disability — including long-term suspension or expulsion.

However — and this is critical — even when a student is expelled, the district must continue providing FAPE. A student with an IEP cannot be simply removed from all educational services. The district must continue implementing the IEP, often in an alternative educational setting.

There are also three specific circumstances where schools can remove a student to an Interim Alternative Educational Setting (IAES) for up to 45 school days regardless of whether the behavior was a manifestation:

• Carrying or possessing a weapon at school
• Knowingly possessing or using illegal drugs at school
• Inflicting serious bodily injury on another person at school

Even in these circumstances, FAPE continues.

Your Procedural Rights at the MDR Meeting

You are a full member of the MDR team. Your right to participate, present evidence, and disagree is protected.

Before the meeting:

• Request all behavioral incident reports, suspension records, and any prior FBA or BIP documents
• Review the IEP and note whether all services and accommodations were being implemented
• Consider whether there were antecedents to the incident — environmental triggers, changes in routine, situations the disability makes difficult to handle

At the meeting:

• If you believe the behavior meets the "direct and substantial relationship" standard, argue it specifically — point to the evaluation data, the disability category criteria, and the known functional impacts of the disability
• If you believe the IEP was not being implemented, raise that directly and ask the team to address it in the meeting record
• If you disagree with the team's MDR conclusion, you can request a due process hearing on an expedited basis; your child remains in their current placement (the "stay-put" provision) while the hearing is pending unless the situation involves weapons, drugs, or serious bodily injury

The Pattern to Watch in Wisconsin

State monitoring data from the 2024–2025 school year revealed serious disparities in how Wisconsin districts discipline students with IEPs. At Milwaukee Public Schools, students with IEPs represented less than 25% of the student population but accounted for 64% of students subjected to seclusion and 59% of students physically restrained. DPI issued a corrective action plan requiring structural reforms.

This data reflects a pattern seen in varying degrees across Wisconsin: students with disabilities — particularly those with behavioral presentations — face significantly higher rates of exclusionary discipline. MDR protections exist specifically to interrupt that pattern. Knowing how to use them is not optional for families in this situation.

The Wisconsin IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a dedicated section on discipline and MDR procedures, with a checklist for what to bring to a manifestation determination review and the specific language to use when arguing that a behavior is a manifestation of the disability under Wisconsin's PI 11 framework.

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