On July 22, 2025, the Department of Public Instruction (department) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from #### (parent) against the #### (district). This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issues are whether the district, during the 2024-25 school year, properly developed and implemented an initial individualized education program (IEP) for a student with a disability.
School districts must provide each student with a disability a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment. School districts meet their obligation to provide FAPE to each student with a disability, in part, by developing and implementing each student's IEP as it is written. Staff responsible for implementing the student's IEP must be informed of their specific responsibilities. 34 CFR §300.323 and Wis. Stat. §115.787.
Under Wisconsin’s interdistrict public school open enrollment program, school districts are required to determine whether and how much space will be made available in their schools, programs, classes, or grades for nonresident students. If a student has their IEP developed or revised while attending a nonresident school district through open enrollment, the nonresident district may consider, prior to the IEP’s implementation, whether it has available the special education and related services to implement the student’s IEP. If the nonresident district determines it has the special education services and space available to implement the student’s IEP, the nonresident district must begin implementing it as written. If it does not, the nonresident district may, but is not required to, notify the parent and resident district that the student’s open enrollment will be terminated. The nonresident district must then transfer the student to their resident school district. The resident school district must provide an educational placement for the student. Wis. Stat. §118.51(12)(b).
The student who is the subject of this complaint attended the #### District during the 2024-25 school year under the Wisconsin’s interdistrict public school open enrollment program.
On December 12, 2024, a staff member made a referral for a special education evaluation for the student due to concerns regarding the student’s articulation and communication. The district sent the parents a notice of receipt of referral on December 13, 2024. The district assigned an IEP team, including the student’s parents, which conducted a review of existing data on December 17, 2024, and determined they required additional assessment information. District staff provided the student’s parents with a notice and consent regarding the need to conduct additional assessments the same day. The parents provided their signed consent to conduct the assessments on December 19, 2024, and the school district received it on January 2, 2025.
On February 17, 2025, the student’s IEP team met and determined the student was eligible for special education and related services under the speech or language impairment criteria. The team then developed the student’s initial IEP, determining that the student required 40 minutes of speech therapy services per week. At this meeting, district staff informed the student’s parents that because the student was attending the district through the open enrollment program, if they provided consent for the initial placement, the district would have to review the IEP to determine if the district had space available in the special education and related services areas. If the district determined that they did not have sufficient space, the student would be denied continued open enrollment.
Given their concerns over having the student’s continued open enrollment denied, the parents did not provide consent for the student’s initial placement in special education until July 21, 2025. The student completed the 2024-25 school year in the #### School District but did not receive any special education or related services. Once consent was provided for initial placement, the district reviewed the student’s IEP and determined that they did not have space available in the district to provide speech services for 40 minutes per week as written in the student’s IEP. The district sent a notice of denial of continued open enrollment on July 24, 2025.
The parent alleges that the district failed to provide special education services after the student was found eligible for special education on February 17, 2025; however, the district could not provide special education services until they received consent for initial placement from the parent. Consent was not provided until after the school year. The district properly developed and implemented the student’s IEP.
The department is not able to determine whether the district properly followed the provisions of the state interdistrict open enrollment law through its special education complaint process.
All noncompliance identified above must be corrected as soon as possible but in no case, more than one year from the date of this decision. This concludes our review of this complaint. This decision is final for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) State Complaint process. These issues may be addressed through other dispute resolutions, including mediation and due process hearings. For more information, visit the department’s website at http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/dispute-resolution or contact the special education team at (608) 266-1781.
For questions about this information, contact dpispeddata@dpi.wi.gov (608) 266-1781