Georgia
- Dispute routes stated in the sources
- Georgia’s own dispute-resolution page describes three formal routes. A formal complaint may be initiated by "Any individual or organization." Its filing window is "One year from the date of the alleged violation." It is resolved by the "Georgia Department of Education/Division for Exceptional Children" within "Sixty days from receipt of the complaint unless extended for unusual circumstances." Mediation may be initiated by "Parent or system, but must be voluntary for both parties". It carries no numeric time limit for filing ("None specified"). A due process hearing may be initiated by "Parent or system." Its filing window is "Two years from when the party knew or should have known of the problem with limited exceptions." It is decided by an "Administrative Law Judge". Its timeline is "45 days from the end of the resolution session unless specific extensions to the timeline are granted." A resolution session is also available, triggered by a due process hearing request: "System must convene a resolution session within 15 days of receipt of the due process hearing request unless both parties agree in writing to waive the session or agree to use mediation. The resolution period lasts for not more than 30 days." — Dispute Resolution, Georgia Department of Education, retrieved Aug 25, 2026.
- Offices in these sources
- Georgia Department of Education, Special Education Help Desk, 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30334. Email SPEDHelpDesk@doe.k12.ga.us, phone 404-656-3963, fax 404-651-6457.
- Parent centers in these sources
- Neither GaDOE page names a parent center directly, but the CADRE national parent guides GaDOE links to list Georgia’s own regional Parent Technical Assistance Center: Parent to Parent of Georgia, 3070 Presidential Pkwy, Suite 130, Atlanta, GA 30340, phone (800) 229-2038, fax (770) 458-4091.
- Sources last checked
- Aug 25, 2026
Reproduced from the state’s own pages and documents quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Georgia publishes about resolving special education disputes: who runs each route, what the published procedures state, and where the original documents live. Georgia is structurally distinct from every state captured so far: the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) does not publish a single, consolidated, state-authored Notice of Procedural Safeguards. Its Dispute Resolution overview page carries GaDOE’s own comparison chart and narrative text, undated on its face, and this page is treated as the anchor source. The "Dispute Resolution Parent Guides" GaDOE links from that same page — covering mediation, written state complaints, due process complaints/hearings, and resolution meetings — are, on inspection, generic national publications produced by CADRE (a federally funded technical-assistance center), dated January 2014 and January 2015 in their own footers, not Georgia-specific documents; they are quoted here and labeled as such, not attributed to GaDOE as state-authored content. District-level practice may add procedural detail this page does not carry. Confirm applicability with the department itself. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
The routes, as the state describes them
Mediation (GaDOE, contracted mediators). "When the parent and systems disagree about the education of a student with a disability, either of them may request mediation. GaDOE has a set of mediators under contract." The written agreement that results "is a legally binding agreement and is enforceable in any Georgia court of competent jurisdiction or in a district court of the United States." (GaDOE, Dispute Resolution, Mediation Requests)
Formal complaint (GaDOE Division for Exceptional Children). "A formal complaint is a written signed complaint alleging the violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) procedures. Any organization or individual may file a signed written complaint." "The violation must have occurred within one calendar year of receipt of the complaint." "The rule for formal complaints can be found in the State Education Rules at 160-4-7-.12 Dispute Resolution." (GaDOE, Dispute Resolution, Formal Complaints)
Due process complaint (Administrative Law Judge). "A due process complaint is a written document used to request a due process hearing related to the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of a child with a disability, or the provision of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) to the child." Georgia’s own comparison chart names the decision-maker as an "Administrative Law Judge" — distinct from the GaDOE staff who resolve formal complaints. (GaDOE, Dispute Resolution Comparison Chart; IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, a national CADRE guide linked from GaDOE, January 2014)
The published process
- Placement during a dispute
- "From the time a due process complaint is filed until it is resolved, your child stays in his or her current educational placement, unless you and the school agree otherwise. This is often referred to as “pendency” or “stay put.”" — IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, a national CADRE guide linked from GaDOE, January 2014, retrieved Aug 25, 2026. Not addressed on GaDOE’s own dispute-resolution pages directly.
- Independent evaluation at public expense
- Not stated in the sources reviewed. Neither the GaDOE Dispute Resolution overview page, the GaDOE Mediation Requests and Formal Complaints page, nor the two CADRE national guides captured (Written State Complaints; Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests) addresses independent educational evaluations at public expense.
- Who may be present, and what record is made
- "Parents have the right to a record of the hearing, the findings of fact, and hearing decision at no cost to them." Generally, "parents and school staff, their attorneys, witnesses, and others whom they invite may attend the due process hearing." "a parent may choose to allow members of the public to observe the hearing." — IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, a national CADRE guide linked from GaDOE, January 2014. Recording of IEP meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not stated in the sources reviewed.
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 GaDOE’s Dispute Resolution page except where noted.
On mediation: No specific numeric mediation timeline is stated: the comparison chart’s "time limit for filing" and "timeline for resolving the issues" columns both read "None specified" for mediation.
On formal complaints: "One year from the date of the alleged violation" to file. "Sixty days from receipt of the complaint unless extended for unusual circumstances" to resolve. The national CADRE guide adds: "A written decision is made no later than 60 calendar days after the written state complaint was received by the SEA, unless the timeline is extended." (GaDOE Dispute Resolution Comparison Chart; IDEA Special Education Written State Complaints, a national CADRE guide linked from GaDOE, January 2014)
On requesting a due process hearing: "Two years from when the party knew or should have known of the problem with limited exceptions."
On the resolution session: "System must convene a resolution session within 15 days of receipt of the due process hearing request unless both parties agree in writing to waive the session or agree to use mediation. The resolution period lasts for not more than 30 days."
On the hearing decision: "45 days from the end of the resolution session unless specific extensions to the timeline are granted." The national CADRE guide states the hearing officer "must mail a copy of the hearing decision to each party no later than 45 calendar days from the beginning of the hearing timeline or, if the hearing officer granted an extension to the hearing timeline, by the end of that extension." (GaDOE Dispute Resolution Comparison Chart; IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, January 2014)
On appeal: Not stated with a specific number of days in the sources reviewed. The national CADRE guide notes generally that "In many states, appeals must be filed in a short period of time, such as within 30 or 60 calendar days after the hearing officer’s decision" — without stating Georgia’s own figure.
On discipline and expedited hearings: "A resolution meeting must occur within 7 calendar days, unless you and the school district both agree in writing not to have a resolution meeting, or to use mediation instead." "The hearing must be held within 20 school days of the expedited hearing request being filed." "The hearing officer must issue a decision within 10 school days of the date of the hearing." "Your child must remain in the educational setting chosen by his or her IEP team until the hearing officer issues a decision or the time period for the disciplinary action expires, unless you and the school agree otherwise." (IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, a national CADRE guide linked from GaDOE, January 2014, Expedited Hearing Requests)
What any of this means for a particular situation is for the agency and its processes to determine.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Dispute Resolution (overview page and comparison chart) | gadoe.org | none published; retrieved Aug 25, 2026 |
| Mediation Requests and Formal Complaints (page) | gadoe.org | none published; retrieved Aug 25, 2026 |
| IDEA Special Education Written State Complaints (national CADRE guide, linked from GaDOE) | lor2.gadoe.org (PDF) | Publication Date: January 2014 (CADRE, Eugene, Oregon); retrieved Aug 25, 2026 |
| IDEA Special Education Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests Including Expedited Hearing Requests (national CADRE guide, linked from GaDOE) | lor2.gadoe.org (PDF) | Publication Date: January 2014 (CADRE, Eugene, Oregon); retrieved Aug 25, 2026 |
| IDEA Special Education Mediation (national CADRE guide, linked from GaDOE) | lor2.gadoe.org (PDF) | listed; capture pending |
| IDEA Special Education Resolution Meetings (national CADRE guide, linked from GaDOE) | lor2.gadoe.org (PDF) | listed; capture pending |
| Dispute Resolution Process Comparison Charts (English and Spanish, downloadable PDF) | lor2.gadoe.org | listed; capture pending |
| Georgia State Education Rule 160-4-7-.12, Dispute Resolution | referenced repeatedly, not directly captured | listed; capture pending |
| Special Education Legal Aid Providers list | linked from gadoe.org | listed; capture pending |
| Dispute Resolution Brochure / Booklet | linked from gadoe.org | listed; capture pending |
Change log
Aug 25, 2026 · Page created (pilot). Captured first-party: the Georgia Department of Education’s Dispute Resolution overview page (including its own comparison chart) and Mediation Requests and Formal Complaints page, both retrieved via browser rendering since the standard fetch tool returned only page metadata for these JavaScript-rendered pages; and two national CADRE parent guides linked from GaDOE’s dispute-resolution page (Written State Complaints; Due Process Complaints/Hearing Requests, both dated January 2014), downloaded directly and text-extracted since the standard fetch tool returned no content for these PDF files. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) Georgia does not publish a single, consolidated, state-authored Notice of Procedural Safeguards, unlike every other state page built so far; its own dispute-resolution page carries a comparison chart and narrative text, and the linked "parent guides" are generic national CADRE publications, not Georgia-specific, and are labeled as such throughout this page; (2) independent educational evaluation at public expense is not addressed in any of the four documents captured for this page; (3) no specific numeric mediation timeline is stated, matching several other states; (4) no specific numeric appeal-filing timeline is stated for Georgia specifically; the CADRE guide only describes a general range other states may use; (5) the parent center identified for Georgia, Parent to Parent of Georgia, comes from the CADRE guides’ regional-contact page rather than from a GaDOE-authored source naming it directly. Capture pending: the IDEA Special Education Mediation and Resolution Meetings CADRE guides, the downloadable comparison-chart PDF (captured only via its on-page HTML rendering), the full text of State Education Rule 160-4-7-.12, the Special Education Legal Aid Providers list, and the Dispute Resolution Brochure/Booklet. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.