Maryland

The published process

Placement during a dispute

The notice’s own section heading is “Child’s Status During Proceedings:”. Its text states: "During the pendency of any administrative or judicial proceeding (except as provided under the discipline section), unless the parent and public agency agree otherwise, the child must remain in his or her current early intervention or educational placement." "If the proceeding involves an initial application for initial admission to public school, the child, with parental consent, must be placed in the public program until the completion of all proceedings." "If the decision of the ALJ agrees with the parents that a change of early intervention services or education placement is appropriate, that placement becomes the child’s current placement during the pendency of subsequent appeals." — Notice, Child’s Status During Proceedings.

Independent evaluation at public expense

"If a parent disagrees with an evaluation completed by the public agency, the parent has the right to have the child evaluated by someone who does not work for the public agency." "Parents have the right to only one independent educational evaluation at public expense each time the public agency conducts an evaluation if the parents disagree with an evaluation obtained by the public agency." "If parents request an independent educational evaluation at public expense, the public agency must, without unnecessary delay, either approve the request and advise the parent of the process for arranging the evaluation at public expense, or deny the request and file for a due process hearing." "If the public agency initiates a due process hearing and the final decision is that the public agency’s evaluation is appropriate, parents still have the right to an independent educational evaluation, but not at public expense." (Notice, Independent Educational Evaluation)

Who may be present, and what record is made

Either party to a due process hearing "has the right to:" "Represent yourself or be represented by an attorney at due process hearings in accordance with State Government Article §9-1607.1, Annotated Code of Maryland;" "Be accompanied and advised by a lawyer and persons with special knowledge or training with respect to the problems of children with disabilities;" "Present evidence and confront, cross-examine, and require the attendance of witnesses;" "Obtain a written, or, at the parent's option, electronic, word-for-word record of the hearing; and" "Obtain written, or, at the parent's option, electronic findings of fact and decisions." The parent separately "has 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." (Notice, Hearing Rights / Parent's Rights) Recording of IEP or IFSP team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not stated in the sources reviewed; the notice was searched throughout for "record," "tape," and "audio" (excluding education-record references), and none address parent recording of a meeting.

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 Parental Rights: Maryland Procedural Safeguards Notice except where noted.

On the difference in timelines, stated together. "MSDE staff generally must resolve a State complaint within 60 calendar days, unless the timeline is properly extended. An ALJ must hear a due process complaint (if not resolved through a resolution meeting or through mediation) and issue a written decision within 45 calendar days after the end of the resolution period or the adjusted resolution period, unless the ALJ grants a specific extension of the timeline at the parent's request or the public agency's request." (Notice, Complaint and Due Process introduction)

On filing a State complaint. "A State complaint must allege a violation that has occurred not more than one year prior to the State receiving the complaint." "MSDE must issue a written decision that contains findings of fact" and conclusions within 60 calendar days of receipt of the State complaint, subject to extension only for "Exceptional circumstances" or voluntary agreement to try mediation. (Notice, State Complaint)

On filing a due process complaint. "The due process complaint must allege a violation that occurred within two years of the date the parent or agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the due process complaint, or if the State has an explicit time limitation for requesting such a due process hearing under this part, in the time allowed by that State law." Exceptions apply where the public agency misrepresented that it had resolved the issue or withheld required information. (Notice, Due Process Complaint)

On the response to a due process complaint. "If the public agency has not sent a prior written notice to the parents regarding the issues raised by the parent in the due process complaint, the public agency shall send the parent a response, within 10 days of receiving the due process complaint, containing:" "The other party to a due process complaint (parent or public agency) must send the other party a response that specifically addresses the issues in the due process complaint, within 10 calendar days of receiving the due process complaint." "The due process complaint is considered sufficient unless the party receiving the complaint notifies OAH and the other party in writing within 15 days of receiving it" that the receiving party believes it does not meet the content requirements. (Notice, Response to the Due Process Complaint / Sufficiency of Notice)

On the resolution meeting and period. "Within 15 calendar days of receiving a parent's due process complaint, and before the due process hearing begins, the public agency must hold a meeting with the parent and the relevant member or members of the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) team or Individualized Education Program (IEP) team who have specific knowledge of the facts identified in the parent's due process complaint." "If the public agency has not resolved the due process complaint to the parent's satisfaction within 30 calendar days of receiving the complaint (the resolution period), the due process hearing may occur." "The 45-day timeline for issuing a final decision begins at the end of the 30-day resolution period," subject to stated adjustments. (Notice, Resolution Process)

On the written settlement agreement. "If the parent and the public agency enter into an agreement as a result of a resolution meeting, either party may void the agreement within three (3) business days." (Notice, Resolution Settlement Agreement)

On additional disclosure of information. "At least five (5) business days before a due process hearing, the parent and the public agency must disclose to each other all evaluations completed by that date and recommendations based on those evaluations that the parent or the public agency intend to use at the hearing." (Notice, Additional Disclosure of Information)

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. Captured first-party: the MSDE Family Support & Dispute Resolution Branch overview page (HTML, fetched directly, no date published on the page itself) and the Parental Rights: Maryland Procedural Safeguards Notice (PDF, Revised January 2021, Effective January 27, 2021, text extracted in full with pdftotext). Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) no parent training and information center (PTI) is named in either source; the overview page instead links three named organizations under "Links for More Information" (Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings, Community Mediation Maryland, CADRE) and a "Listing of Free or Low-Cost Assistance for Special Education Disputes" resource that was not independently captured; (2) recording of IEP or IFSP team meetings, as distinct from due process hearings, is not addressed anywhere in the notice, searched specifically for this; (3) the overview page’s contact section renders staff email addresses as obfuscated placeholder text in the scraped capture, so only names, roles, and the general MSDE phone number are reproduced; (4) Maryland routes mediation and due process hearings to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), described in the notice as "an impartial entity that is not part of MSDE." while State complaints go directly to MSDE — a split-office structure similar to Pennsylvania’s ODR pattern. Capture pending: the IDEA Dispute Resolution Processes Comparison Chart, the Listing of Free or Low-Cost Assistance PDF, the Request for Mediation and Due Process Complaint Form, the State Complaint Resolution Procedures document and translations, both State Complaint forms, both Parent's Guide FAQ documents and translations, and the notice’s non-English translations. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.