Kentucky IEP evaluation deadline: how long does the school have?

You signed consent for the evaluation. Here is exactly what Kentucky law requires next, and what to do if the date passes.

60 school days

From the day the district receives your signed consent, the 60 school days run through the evaluation, the eligibility decision, and — if your child is eligible — the start of services under the IEP. Not just the testing.

Day type: School days
Clock starts at: Your signed parental consent to the evaluation
What the deadline covers: Evaluation, eligibility determination, and provision of services under the IEP if eligible
Legal citation: 707 KAR 1:320 § 2(3)

The part most parents miss: school days, not calendar days

Kentucky counts school days. Days when school is not in session never count toward the 60. Summer break pauses the count on its own, and so do winter break, spring break, holidays, and weekends.

Sixty school days is roughly twelve weeks of actual school. If you sign consent in the spring, the deadline can land well into the next school year. That is legal — but it also means you should know your real date instead of assuming "about two months."

The deadline runs all the way to services. Kentucky is unusual: the 60 school days do not stop at testing, and do not even stop at the eligibility decision. They run through the Admissions and Release Committee (ARC) finding your child eligible and services under the IEP actually being provided (707 KAR 1:320 § 2(3)(b)). A district that finds your child eligible on day 58 but does not start services until October has missed the deadline.

The clock starts at consent, not at your request

The 60 school days do not start when you ask for an evaluation. They start when the district receives your signed consent.

A district can take time between your request and handing you a consent form. Put your request in writing and date-stamp it. Then date-stamp the consent. Keep both.

How to count your deadline

Find the date the district received your signed consent. Not the date you signed it — the date they got it.
Count forward 60 school days using your district's calendar.
Skip every non-school day — weekends, holidays, breaks, summer.
That date is the deadline for the evaluation, the ARC eligibility decision, and — if your child is eligible — services starting under the IEP.

What to do if the deadline passes

Put it in writing the same week. Email the case manager and the special education director. State the consent date, the deadline date, and that it has passed. A phone call creates no record.
Ask for prior written notice. If the district refuses or delays, you are entitled to a written explanation of what it is doing and why.
File a state complaint. A missed timeline is a straightforward compliance violation. In Kentucky this goes to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). It is free and does not require a lawyer.
Keep the paper trail. Every date, every email, every response.

Free: IEP evaluation deadlines for all 51 jurisdictions

A one-page chart of every state's deadline, day type, and when the clock starts — plus a playbook for when a district blows the date.

Get the free cheat sheet

Need the letters too? The Evaluation Request Kit has fill-in templates for the request, the follow-up, and the complaint.

Sources

707 KAR 1:320 § 2(3) — 60 school days from consent through evaluation, eligibility, and provision of services under the IEP
707 KAR 1:320 § 2(4) — the ARC meeting to develop the IEP must be held within 30 days of the eligibility determination, inside the 60-day window
34 CFR § 300.11 — federal day definitions; "school day" excludes days students are not in attendance

Verified July 2026. State rules change — confirm against the current code before relying on a date.