Missouri

The published process

Placement during a dispute

The notice’s own section heading is "THE CHILD'S PLACEMENT WHILE THE DUE PROCESS COMPLAINT AND HEARING ARE PENDING". Its text states: "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." "If the due process complaint involves an application for initial admission to public school, your child, with your consent, must be placed in the regular public school program until the completion of all such proceedings." — Notice, The Child’s Placement While the Due Process Complaint and Hearing Are Pending.

Independent evaluation at public expense

"you have the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation (IEE) of your child if you disagree with the evaluation of your child that was obtained by your school district." "If you request an independent educational evaluation of your child at public expense, your school district must, without unnecessary delay, either: (a) File a due process complaint to request a hearing to show that its evaluation of your child is appropriate; or (b) Provide an independent educational evaluation 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 independent educational evaluation 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) As in Minnesota’s and Mississippi’s notices, no specific number of days is stated for the district’s response — only "without unnecessary delay"

Who may be present, and what record is made

Any party to a due process hearing has the right to: "Be accompanied and advised by a lawyer and/or persons with special knowledge or training regarding the problems of children with disabilities;" "Be represented at the due process hearing by an attorney;" "Present evidence and confront, cross-examine, and require the attendance of witnesses;" "Obtain a written, or, at your option, electronic, word-for-word record of the hearing; and" "Obtain written, or, at your option, electronic findings of fact and decisions." As a parent, "You must be given the right to:" "Have your 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) Recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from a due process hearing’s own record, is not stated in the sources reviewed; the notice was searched throughout for "record," "tape," and "audio," and every provision found concerns education records or the hearing record itself, not a parent’s ability to record 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 Procedural Safeguards Notice except where noted.

On filing a State complaint. "The complaint must allege a violation that occurred not more than one year prior to the date that the complaint is received as described under the heading Adoption of State Complaint Procedures." "Each State Educational Agency must include in its State complaint procedures a time limit of 60 calendar days after a complaint is filed" to investigate, take submissions from both sides, and "Issue a written decision to the complainant that addresses each allegation in the complaint and contains: (a) findings of fact and conclusions; and (b) the reasons for the State Educational Agency's final decision." (Notice, Minimum State Complaint Procedures / Filing a Complaint)

On filing a due process complaint. "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." "You or the school district must request an impartial hearing on a due process complaint within two years of the date you or the school district knew or should have known about the issue addressed in the complaint." (Notice, Filing a Due Process Complaint / Impartial Due Process Hearing)

On the resolution meeting and period. "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 individualized education program (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." "The 45-calendar-day timeline for issuing a final due process hearing decision" "begins at the expiration of the 30-calendar-day resolution period, with certain exceptions for adjustments made to the 30-calendar-day resolution period, as described below." (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" "not later than 45 calendar days after the expiration of the adjusted time period:" "A final decision is reached in the hearing; and" "A copy of the decision is mailed to each of the parties." "A hearing officer may grant specific extensions of time beyond the 45-calendar-day time period described above at the request of either party." (Notice, Timelines and Convenience of Hearings and Reviews)

On civil action. "The party (you or the school district) bringing the action shall have 45 calendar days from the date of the decision of the hearing officer to file a civil action." This 45-day civil-action window is shorter than the 90-day window seen in every other state’s notice captured in this project so far. (Notice, Civil Actions, Including the Time Period in Which to File Those Actions)

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: DESE’s "Dispute Resolution" and "Procedural Safeguards" pages (both HTML, fetched directly, no dates published on either page itself) and the Procedural Safeguards Notice, Part B of the IDEA, whose own footer is dated "August 2009" (PDF, fetched directly from dese.mo.gov’s file host after locating the actual PDF URL embedded in the landing page’s PDF-viewer wrapper; text extracted in full with pdftotext). Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) the notice’s civil-action filing window is 45 calendar days from the hearing officer’s decision, shorter than the 90-day window seen in every other state’s notice captured in this project so far; (2) hearing officers are rostered at the district level — "Each school district must keep a list of those persons who serve as hearing officers" — rather than a single statewide list; (3) the notice states no specific number of days for a district’s response to an independent educational evaluation request, only "without unnecessary delay"; (4) recording of IEP Team meetings, as distinct from a due process hearing’s own record, is not addressed anywhere in the notice, searched specifically for this; (5) a parent training and information center, Missouri Parents Act (MPACT), is named with contact detail directly in the notice. Capture pending: the notice’s translated versions, the State Complaint, Due Process Complaint, and FIEP model forms, the Comparisons of Options PDF, and the Due Process Decisions database. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-25. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.