Florida

The published process

Placement during a dispute

"once a due process complaint is sent to the other party, during the resolution process time period, and while waiting for the decision of any impartial due process hearing or court proceeding, unless you and the State or school district agree otherwise, your child must remain in his or her current educational placement." — Notice, The Child's Placement While the Due Process Complaint and Hearing are Pending, retrieved Aug 25, 2026

Independent evaluation at public expense

"You have the right to an IEE of your child at public expense if you disagree with an evaluation of your child obtained by your school district, subject to the following conditions:" the school district must, without unnecessary delay, either file a due process complaint to defend its evaluation or "Provide an IEE at public expense, unless the school district demonstrates in a hearing that the evaluation of your child that you obtained did not meet the school district’s criteria." "You are entitled to only one IEE of your child at public expense each time your school district conducts an evaluation of your child with which you disagree." — Notice, Independent Educational Evaluations

Who may be present, and what record is made

"You have the right to represent yourself at a due process hearing. In addition, any party to a due process hearing (including a hearing relating to disciplinary procedures) has the right to:" "Be accompanied and advised by an attorney and/or persons with special knowledge or training regarding the problems of children with disabilities;" be represented by an attorney or non-attorney; present and cross-examine evidence and witnesses; and "Obtain a written, or, at your option, electronic, word-for-word record of the hearing; and" obtain written findings of fact and decisions. Parents additionally have the right to have the child present, open the hearing to the public, and "Have the record of the hearing, the findings of fact and decisions provided to you at no cost." In Florida, any party also has the right to be represented at the hearing by a "qualified representative" defined under separate state administrative rules, not only an attorney. — Notice, Hearing Rights, FLORIDA-SPECIFIC Due Process Information. Recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not stated in the sources reviewed (the notice and the State Complaint General Information document were searched).

The three rows above answer the questions an experienced adviser raises first, from the state’s own published documents, or record that a question is not answered in them.

Timelines, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none calculated. From the Part B Procedural Safeguards Notice: Florida except where noted.

On mediation: "Each meeting in the mediation process must be scheduled in a timely manner and held at a place that is convenient for you and the school district." No specific numeric mediation timeline is stated in the sources reviewed, unlike the 30-day figures some other states publish.

On state complaints: "FDOE is required to issue a written decision on each complaint within 60 days after the complaint is filed unless that time limit is extended because exceptional circumstances exist concerning the particular complaint or the parties agree to extend the time limit to engage in mediation or other alternative means of dispute resolution." (State Complaint General Information, State Complaint Timeline Extensions)

On requesting a due process hearing: "The due process complaint must allege a violation that happened not more than two years before you or the school district knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the due process complaint." (Notice, Filing a Due Process Complaint)

On the resolution process: "Within 15 calendar days of receiving notice of your due process complaint, and before the due process hearing begins, the school district must convene a meeting with you and the relevant member or members of the IEP Team who have specific knowledge of the facts identified in your due process complaint." "If the school district has not resolved the due process complaint to your satisfaction within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the due process complaint (during the time period for the resolution process), the due process hearing may occur." (Notice, Resolution Process)

On the hearing decision: "The State Educational Agency must ensure that not later than 45 calendar days after the expiration of the 30-calendar-day period for resolution meetings" or the adjusted resolution period, "A final decision is reached in the hearing; and" a copy is mailed to the parties. A hearing officer may grant specific extensions at either party's request. (Notice, Timelines and Convenience of Hearings and Reviews)

On appeal: "The party (you or the school district) bringing the action shall have 90 calendar days from the date of the decision of the hearing officer to file a civil action." — matching the federal default recorded for Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. (Notice, Civil Actions, Including the Time Period in Which to File Those Actions)

On discipline: "school personnel may, for not more than 10 school days in a row, remove a child with a disability who violates a code of student conduct from his or her current placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting, another setting, or suspension." "Within 10 school days of any decision to change the placement of a child with a disability because of a violation of a code of student conduct" (except a removal of ten school days or fewer that is not a change of placement), the district and IEP Team must hold a manifestation determination. "Whether or not the behavior was a manifestation of your child’s disability, school personnel may remove a student to an interim alternative educational setting (determined by the child’s IEP Team) for not more than 45 school days, if your child:" carries a weapon, knowingly possesses or uses illegal drugs, or has inflicted serious bodily injury. For an appeal of a disciplinary placement, "The State Educational Agency or school district must arrange for an expedited due process hearing, which must occur within 20 school days of the date the hearing is requested and must result in a determination within 10 school days after the hearing." Unless waived or resolved through mediation, "a resolution meeting must occur within seven calendar days of receiving notice of the due process complaint. The hearing may proceed unless the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties within 15 calendar days of receipt of the due process complaint." A Florida-specific route exists beyond ordinary discipline: "in the event that your school district superintendent requests that an extraordinary exemption from participation in a state assessment be granted to your child and the Commissioner of Education denies this request, you have the right to request an expedited due process hearing." (Notice, Authority of School Personnel; Manifestation Determination; Special Circumstances; Appeal; FLORIDA-SPECIFIC Due Process Requirements)

What any of this means for a particular situation is for the agency and its processes to determine.

Change log

Aug 25, 2026 · Page created (pilot). Captured first-party: the full text of the Part B Procedural Safeguards Notice: Florida and the State Complaint General Information document, both from fldoe.org. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) all three formal routes — state complaint, mediation, and due process hearing — run through a single agency, the FDOE Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, though due process hearings themselves are convened by a separate body, the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings; (2) neither captured source carries an explicit revision or publication date in its own text; the State Complaint document's filename suggests a 2021 origin, and no cover date was visible in either PDF's captured text; (3) Florida requires mediators to be Florida Supreme Court certified with no reported sanctions, a state-specific qualification beyond the federal baseline; (4) Florida permits any party to be represented at a due process hearing by a "qualified representative" under separate state administrative rules, not only an attorney; (5) Florida provides an additional expedited due process route specific to extraordinary exemptions from state assessment participation, triggered when the Commissioner of Education denies a superintendent's exemption request; (6) neither source names a parent training and information center or similar organization, though the notice's mediation section references the category generically; (7) no specific numeric mediation timeline is stated in the sources reviewed, unlike the 30-day figures some other states publish; (8) recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not addressed in the sources reviewed. Capture pending: the model state complaint and due process forms, the statewide ESE contact directory, the referenced Florida Administrative Code rules (6A-6.03311 and 6A-6.03312) in full, and any first-party page giving the notice's own revision date. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.