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

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

The part most parents miss: Maine runs two clocks, and they start on different dates

It is easy to assume there is one deadline. Maine actually has two, and mixing them up is the most common way parents miscount.

Clock one — the consent form. After you make a written referral, the school unit has 15 school days to send you the consent-to-evaluate form (MUSER § IV). This clock runs from your referral.

Clock two — the evaluation. The 45-school-day evaluation clock does not start until you sign and return that consent. It runs from your consent, not your referral. The days the district spends producing the form, and the days you take to sign it, fall in between the two clocks — they are not counted against the 45.

So keep two dates: the day you made the referral, and the day the district received your signed consent. The first governs the consent-form deadline; the second anchors the 45-school-day evaluation deadline.

School days mean summer does not count

Maine counts school days. Days when students are not in attendance for instruction never count toward the 45 — weekends, holidays, breaks, and summer all pause the count on their own. Forty-five school days is roughly nine weeks of actual school, so consent signed in the spring can push the deadline into the fall.

How to count your deadline

1. Find the date the district received your signed consent. Not the date you signed it — the date they got it.
2. Count forward 45 school days using your district's calendar.
3. Skip every non-school day — weekends, holidays, breaks, summer.
4. That date is the deadline for the evaluation and the eligibility determination.
5. Separately, count 15 school days from your written referral. That is when the consent-to-evaluate form was due to you.

What to do if the deadline passes

1. 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.
2. Ask for prior written notice. If the school refuses or delays, you are entitled to a written explanation of what it is doing and why.
3. File a state complaint. A missed timeline is a straightforward compliance violation. In Maine this goes to the Maine Department of Education. It is free and does not require a lawyer.
4. Keep the paper trail. Every date, every email, every response.