You have more power in that meeting than you think.
If the district assessed your child and you don't agree with the results, you have a right most families are never told about — and it comes with a choice that belongs to you, not to them.
You sat through the meeting. Someone read the scores aloud, explained what they meant, and moved on to the next item. Something about it didn't sit right — maybe the testing missed what you see at home every night, maybe an area you asked about never got looked at, maybe the conclusions just don't match your child.
You can ask the district to pay for a second opinion from an evaluator who doesn't work for them. That second opinion is called an Independent Educational Evaluation, or IEE.
◈What an IEE actually is
An IEE is an evaluation of your child conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the school district. It covers the same ground the district's assessment did — academic achievement, speech and language, assistive technology, psychoeducational testing, whatever area is in question.
The purpose is not to prove the district wrong. It is to give the IEP team a second, independent look at your child. Sometimes an IEE confirms what the district found. That is a useful outcome too.
◈When you can ask for one
You can request an IEE when the district has completed an assessment and you disagree with it. The disagreement can be about the findings, the methods used, the areas that were covered, or the areas that weren't.
You do not need to prove your disagreement is correct. You only need to have one.
◈The district pays
Under federal law at 34 CFR 300.502 and California Education Code section 56329, if you disagree with the district's evaluation, you have the right to an IEE at public expense.
The district may ask why you disagree. You can answer if you want to, but you are not required to, and the district cannot delay your request or refuse it because you decline to explain.
◈How to make the request
Put it in writing. An email is fine. Include your child's name and school, the assessment you disagree with and its date, a clear statement that you disagree and are requesting an IEE at public expense, and the area you want assessed.
Date it and keep a copy. The written record matters if there is ever a question later about when you asked.
Sample language
I received the district's [type] assessment of my child, dated [date]. I disagree with the assessment and am requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense in the area of [area].
◈What has to happen next
Once you request an IEE, the district has two options and no others. Without unnecessary delay, it must either:
- Fund the IEE, or
- File for a due process hearing to demonstrate that its own evaluation was appropriate.
The district cannot simply say no and leave it there. Silence is not one of the two options.
◈The part most families don't know
You select who conducts the IEE. Not the district.
Districts often keep a list of assessors. That list is a convenience. It is not a limit.
The district may apply criteria — where the evaluation takes place, what qualifications the examiner must hold. But those criteria must be the same ones it applies to its own evaluators. It cannot hold your evaluator to a stricter standard than its own staff.
If you want someone who isn't on the district's list, you can name that person. The district must then consider whether they meet its stated criteria — and it has to justify those criteria against what it requires of the people it hires itself.
◈After the evaluation
The district must consider the results of the IEE in any decision about your child's education. Considering is not the same as agreeing. But the results have to be part of the discussion, and they belong in the IEP meeting.
◈Limits worth knowing
- You are entitled to one IEE at public expense for each district assessment you disagree with.
- The right attaches to an assessment the district has already completed. If the district has never assessed in an area, request a district assessment first.
- Districts set their own reimbursement rate caps. Ask what theirs is before you select an evaluator.
What this is, and what it isn't
This describes a right that exists under federal and California law. It is not legal advice, and it is not a recommendation about your particular situation. Every child's circumstances are different. If you are facing a dispute you cannot resolve through the IEP process, talk to a special education attorney or advocate.