Kansas

The published process

Placement during a dispute

"While the due process hearing is pending, the student involved in the complaint must remain ("stay- put") in the current educational placement, unless:" — "The parents and the public agency agree to a different placement (34 C.F.R. 300.518)."; "The proceedings arise in connection with the initial admission of the child to school, in which case the child will be placed in the appropriate regular education classroom or program (34 C.F.R. 300.518), unless otherwise directed by a special education due process hearing officer because a child’s behavior is substantially likely to result in injury to the student or to others."; "The student is in an interim alternative educational setting for disciplinary reasons." (Chapter 12, Section H; the stray space in "stay- put" is the source's own line break, preserved) The state statute states the same right: "during the pendency of any proceedings conducted under this act, unless the agency and parent otherwise agree, the child shall remain in the then-current educational placement of such child."

Independent evaluation at public expense

"After an initial evaluation (or reevaluation, see chapter 7) is completed, if the parents disagree with the school's evaluation, they have the right to ask for an independent educational evaluation at public expense." (Chapter 3, Section H) On what the school must then do: "If the parent requests an independent educational evaluation, the school must either:" — "Provide information to the parent about where an independent educational evaluation can be obtained, the agency criteria (which may include qualifications of examiners and location to obtain the evaluation); and"; "Ensure that the evaluation is provided at public expense, unless a special education due process hearing officer determines that the independent educational evaluation did not meet agency criteria; or"; "Initiate a due process hearing to show that the school's evaluation was appropriate." On explanations: "If a parent requests an independent educational evaluation, the agency may ask the reason for the objection to the public evaluation. However, the explanation by the parent shall not be required, and the agency shall not unreasonably delay either providing the independent educational evaluation at public expense or initiating a due process hearing to defend the public evaluation." On cost limits, Kansas states both sides of the rule: "The school may set reasonable limitations on the costs for which it will be responsible. The school may have to exceed those costs if necessary to ensure that the independent educational evaluation meets the child’s unique needs." And: "A parent is entitled to only one independent education evaluation at public expense each time the public agency conducts an evaluation with which the parent disagrees".

Who may be present, and what record is made

Kansas closes the hearing by default and opens it only at the parent's request. "The due process hearing must be held at a time and place reasonably convenient to the parent of the child and be a closed hearing, unless the parent requests an open hearing." On who may attend and advise: "Both parties have the right to be present at the hearing and be accompanied and advised by legal counsel and people who have special knowledge about children with exceptionalities." On evidence and witnesses: "The parties have the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses who appear in person at the hearing, either voluntarily or as a result of a subpoena. Each party may present witnesses in person or present their testimony by affidavit, including expert medical, psychological or educational testimony." And on scope: "Each party has a right to prohibit the other party from raising any issue at the hearing that was not raised in the due process complaint notice or in a prehearing conference held prior to the hearing". On the record: "Both parties have the right to have a written or, at the option of the parent, an electronic, verbatim record of the hearing. They also have the right to a written, or at the option of the parent, electronic decision, including the findings of facts and conclusions. Both the record of the hearing and the decision of the special education due process hearing officer must be provided at no cost to the parents". Recording of IEP meetings, as distinct from hearings: not stated in the sources reviewed (Chapters 1, 3, 10, 11, and 12 were searched); district policies may address it.

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 Kansas Special Education Process Handbook (chapters carrying a 6/12/26 revision footer).

On notice of an IEP meeting: the notice "must be provided in writing at least 10 days prior to the meeting".

On filing a due process complaint: "The problem about which the complaint is made must have occurred not more than two years before the date the parent or public agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the due process complaint. There are some exceptions to this timeline, including when a publ" — the sentence continues past the captured line break; the statute states the same two-year rule with its own exceptions.

On the agency's first response: "Not more than five business days after a due process complaint notice is received, the agency providing for the hearing shall furnish to the parent the following information:" — "The agency's list of qualified due process hearing officers;" and "written notification that the parent has the right to disqualify any or all of the hearing officers on the agency's list and to request" others, as that provision continues.

On the resolution period: where the agency has not resolved "to the satisfaction of the parent within 30 days of the public agency’s receipt of the" notice — a running footer interrupts the sentence in the source's text layer — the hearing may proceed; and "if both parties agree in writing to waive the resolution meeting, the 45 day timeline to complete the due process hearing begins the day after the written agreement is signed."

On scheduling the hearing, a Kansas-specific window: "Unless a resolution meeting is agreed to by both parties, the due process hearing shall be held not later than 35 days from the date on which the request is received. The parties shall be notified in writing of the time and place of the hearing at least five days prior to the hearing".

On the decision: "The 45 day timeline for completion of a due process hearing starts on the day after one of the following events occurs:" — the three events the handbook lists, beginning "both parties to the due process proceedings agree, in writing, to waive the resolution meeting;". And: "A Special education due process hearing officer may grant extensions of time upon request of either" party.

On appeal: a party may file an appeal with the commissioner of education "not later than 30 calendar days after the date of the postmark on the envelope containing the written decision."

On civil action, where Kansas's window is far shorter than the federal default: "The state statute adds the timeline; in Kansas, a civil action must be filed within 30 calendar days after the review officer's decision". The handbook adds: "Consistent with state court actions, any action in federal court shall be filed within 30 days after service of the review officer’s decision."

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

Change log

Aug 25, 2026 · Deepened to a full page. The capture gap recorded when this page was created has been closed. Chapters 1 (Parent Rights), 3 (Initial Evaluation and Eligibility), and 12 (Due Process Hearing) of the Kansas Special Education Process Handbook were located and captured, and the page now carries the three hoisted rows and a full timelines section alongside the routes. How the gap was closed, for the record: KSDE has moved its document paths from /Portals/0/SES/PH/ to /docs/default-source/sets/, which is why the earlier fetch attempts against the old URLs returned nothing; the current chapter URLs were found through the department's Guide to Special Education page and the Process Handbook index. The department's site returns an empty body to this project's fetcher, so with the owner's permission the three chapter PDFs were downloaded and their text layers extracted mechanically; the extracted text is appended to the packet in full and the intermediate files removed. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) Kansas extends due process rights beyond IDEA's scope — "in Kansas those same rights are also afforded to students with giftedness"; (2) the hearing is closed by default and open only at the parent's request, the reverse of how most states' notices frame it; (3) a hearing must be held "not later than 35 days from the date on which the request is received" unless a resolution meeting is agreed to, a scheduling rule most states do not publish; (4) the window to bring a civil action is thirty calendar days after the review officer's decision, not ninety, and the handbook states the same thirty-day limit for a federal action; (5) an appeal to the commissioner runs from "the date of the postmark on the envelope containing the written decision", a start point stated more precisely than most; (6) Kansas states both halves of the IEE cost rule — the school "may set reasonable limitations on the costs for which it will be responsible" and "may have to exceed those costs if necessary to ensure that the independent educational evaluation meets the child’s unique needs"; (7) the Disability Rights Center of Kansas is still given two different phone numbers across chapters (877-776-1541 in Chapter 12's introduction and Chapter 11's; 785-273-9661 in Chapter 10's Q&A), reproduced as published rather than reconciled; (8) recording of IEP meetings is not addressed in any captured chapter, and that absence is recorded rather than filled; (9) the PDF text layers render some ligatures as single glyphs and break words at line ends ("stay- put"), and those artifacts are preserved verbatim inside quotations. Capture pending: Chapters 7 and 13, the model Parent Rights Notice, and the Parent Guide to Special Education. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25.

Aug 25, 2026 · Page created (baseline). Captured first-party: Chapter 10 (Mediation) and Chapter 11 (Formal Complaint). Chapters 1 and 12 could not be retrieved at the URLs then published, so the page was published at baseline depth with the gap recorded rather than filled, and the routes captured and dated. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.