Any individual or organization may file a complaint with the Department of Public Instruction if they believe a public agency has violated state requirements under Chapter 115, Wis. Stats., or PI 11 Wis. Admin. Code, or federal requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) when providing special education programs. The complainant must allege a violation that occurred not more than one year prior to the date that the complaint is received. The party filing the complaint must forward a copy of the complaint to the Local Education Agency (LEA) serving the child at the same time as the party files the complaint with DPI.
Complaints must be in writing and must include the signature of the complainant. They also must include:
- A statement that a public agency has violated special education law.
- The facts on which the statement is based.
- The contact information for the complainant.
- If the complaint alleges violations with respect to a specific child, please include:
- the name of the child;
- the child's residence address;
- the name of the school the child attends;
- In the case of a homeless child or youth (within the meaning of section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)), available contact information for the child, and the name of the school the child is attending;
- a description of the nature of the problem of the child, including facts relating to the problem;
- proposed resolution of the problem to the extent known and available to the party at the time the complaint is filed.
Guidance for use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Department will accept complaints drafted using generative AI. Please review the following guidance prior to using generative AI to submit a complaint.
- To protect the complainant’s confidential information and eliminate inaccurate legal citations, conclusions, or information, it is recommended generative AI (such as Chat GPT, etc.) not be used to write your complaint.
- You will be contacted if additional information is needed or if there are questions about the complaint.
- Should you choose to utilize generative AI (such as Chat GPT), please keep the following considerations in mind:
- Please input only information you would be comfortable sharing with the public into an AI tool.
- Please label text that is generated by AI. For example, “Text generated by ChatGPT, February 7, 2026, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/chat.”
The department must provide the public agency, such as a school district or other LEA with the opportunity to respond to the complaint by proposing a resolution of the complaint. Either the parent (or legal guardian) or district may propose voluntary participation in mediation to resolve concerns raised in the complaint. The parent/guardian may also propose mediation to resolve their concerns without first filing a complaint. You may find more information about this free service here: Wisconsin Special Education Mediation System (WSEMS).
The department must investigate a complaint and issue a written decision within 60 days of receiving it. The 60-day timeline may only be extended if the complainant and school district agree to an extension in order to participate in mediation, or if exceptional circumstances exist. If as a result of its investigation of the complaint the department finds that the public agency has violated requirements relating to special education, the public agency will be required to develop and implement a plan to correct the violations.
The department has developed a model IDEA State Complaint form [English fillable Complaint Form / Formulario de queja sobre el programa IDEA a nivel estatale / xeev tsab cai IDEA daim foos tsis txaus siab] for complainants to use, though they are not required to use it.
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Please send a copy of the signed complaint to:
- Director
Special Education Team
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
P. O. Box 7841
Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7841
(If mailing, please send without staples)
FAX: (608) 267-3746
EMAIL: idea@dpi.wi.gov
(No need to mail the complaint if it has already been emailed in)