Texas

The published process

Placement during a dispute

"Except for a proceeding that involves discipline, 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 the school agree otherwise, your child must remain in his or her current educational placement. Remaining in a current setting is commonly referred to as stay-put." — Notice, Child's Status during Proceedings; January 2025, retrieved Aug 23, 2026, source PDF. In discipline cases the notice states the child remains in the interim alternative educational setting pending the hearing officer's decision or expiration of the removal period, whichever comes first.

Independent evaluation at public expense

"If you disagree with an evaluation provided by the school, you have the right to request that your child be evaluated, at public expense, by someone who does not work for the school." The school then "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 IEE at public expense". Also stated: "You are entitled to only one IEE at public expense each time the school conducts an evaluation with which you disagree." — Notice, Independent Educational Evaluation; January 2025, retrieved Aug 23, 2026

Who may be present, and what record is made

Any party to a hearing has the right to "Be accompanied and advised by an attorneyand/or persons with special knowledge or training regarding the problems of children with disabilities", and Texas states parties may "Represent himself or herself or be represented by an attorney who is licensed in the state of Texas or an individual who is not an attorney licensed in the state of Texas but who has special knowledge or training with respect to problems of children with disabilities" (non-attorney representation, per 19 TAC §89.1175 as cited in the notice). Parents must be given the right to "Have your child present at the hearing", to "Open the hearing to the public", and to "Have the record of the hearing, the findings of fact and decisions provided to you at no cost." Any party may "Obtain a written, or, at your option, electronic," word-for-word record of the hearing. — Notice, Hearing Rights; January 2025, retrieved Aug 23, 2026. Recording of ARD committee meetings, as distinct from hearings: not stated in the sources reviewed (the notice and the complaints page 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. Quotations preserve the source PDF's text-layer artifacts (missing spaces) verbatim; see the change log.

Timelines, as stated in the sources

All quoted; none calculated. From the Notice of Procedural Safeguards (January 2025) except where marked.

On prior written notice, a Texas-specific window: "In Texas, the school must give you prior written notice at least five school days before it proposes or refuses the action unless you agree to a shorter timeframe."

On requesting a due process hearing: "A due process complaint must be filed within two years of the date you knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the complaint." The notice states exceptions where the school misrepresented resolution or withheld required information, and adds: "While not an IDEA requirement, Texas state law provides that in some circumstances, the two-year statute of limitations to file a due process complaint may be tolled or paused if you are an active-duty member of the armed forces, the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, and if the statute of limitations provisions of a federal law known as the Service Members Civil Relief Act apply to you."

On state complaints: "The violation must have occurred not more than one calendar year prior to the date that TEA receives the complaint." (TEA complaints page) "Within 60 calendar days after receiving a special education complaint, the TEA will conduct an investigation, including an on-site investigation if necessary." And on what follows: "The TEA’s decision regarding a special education complaint is final and maynot be appealed." Filing a complaint "does not take away your right to request mediation or a due process hearing."

On resolution meetings: "Except in the case of an expedited hearing, within 15 calendar days of receiving your due process complaint, the school must convene a meeting called a resolution meeting with you, a school representative with decision-making authority, and the relevant members of the ARD committee chosen by you and the school."

On the hearing decision: "The TEA willensure that a final hearing decision is reached and mailed to the parties within 45 calendar days after the expiration of the 30 calendar-day resolution period, or the adjusted resolution period if applicable."

On expedited (discipline) hearings: "The hearing must be held within 20 school days of the date that the complaintis filed. The hearing officer must issue a final decision within 10 school days after the hearing."

On implementation and appeal: "The school must implement the hearing officer’s decision within the timeframe stated by the hearing officer, or if there is no timeframe stated, within 10 school days after the date the decision was rendered, even if the school appeals the decision". A civil action "must be brought no more than 90 calendar days after the date the decision was issued." The notice names no specific Texas court, stating the action may be brought in "a state court that has the authority to hear this type of case" or a federal district court.

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

Change log

Aug 23, 2026 · Page created (pilot). Built from the captured source packet: TEA complaints-process page (HTML, page metadata May 14, 2026) and the full text layer of the Notice of Procedural Safeguards (January 2025), both captured Aug 23, 2026. Findings recorded rather than smoothed: (1) the notice directs special education complaints to specialeducation@tea.texas.gov while TEA's complaints webpage directs them to spedcomplaints@tea.texas.gov with a warning that filings sent to other agency addresses "will not be considered received"; both reproduced, neither reconciled; (2) no parent training and information center or advocacy organization is listed in the sources reviewed; (3) TEA's dispute-resolution overview page served Spanish-language content at capture, so the English overview is uncaptured; (4) PDF text-layer artifacts (missing spaces such as "willensure", "maynot", "attorneyand/or", "complaintis", "or(b)") are preserved verbatim inside quotations; two artifacts made verbatim quotation impossible and are handled around — a running page header interrupts the mediation sentence (quotation split at the break), and a stray control character sits inside "word-for-word" in the hearing-record provision (phrase placed outside the quotation). Capture pending: the English overview page, the Office of Legal Services due-process and mediation program pages, the dispute-resolution handbook, the complaint form, and the cited 19 TAC rules. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter, reviewed 2026-08-23. Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.