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

You made a referral for an evaluation. Virginia counts this deadline differently than almost every other state. Here is exactly how, and what to do if the date passes.

The part most parents miss: two things here are unusual at once

Virginia is confusing because it breaks the normal pattern twice — in the day type and in the starting gun. Get either one wrong and your deadline date is off by weeks.

1. It runs on business days, not calendar days

A business day is Monday through Friday, excluding federal and state holidays (34 CFR § 300.11). Weekends never count. Holidays never count.

Sixty-five business days is roughly thirteen working weeks — about three months on a wall calendar, longer once holidays land in the window. If you counted 65 squares on a calendar, you got a date that is far too early, and you may think the district is late when it is not.

Note what business days are not: they are not school days. A weekday during summer break is still a business day in Virginia. Summer does not automatically pause this clock the way it does in school-day states.

2. The clock starts when the special education administrator receives the referral

Most states start counting when you sign consent. Virginia does not. The trigger is the referral reaching the special education administrator or that person's designee.

Two practical consequences:

• Handing a letter to the front office may not start the clock. The school secretary is not the special education administrator. A note to your child's teacher is not either.
• Consent is not the trigger. The days you spend waiting for the consent paperwork, and the days it takes you to return it, are inside the 65 — not before it.

So: send the referral in writing, address it to the division's special education administrator, and keep proof of the date it was received. Email with a delivery confirmation, or a dated stamp on a hand-delivered copy. That date is the one your whole deadline hangs on.

How to count your deadline

1. Find the date the special education administrator or designee received your referral. Not the date you wrote it, and not the date the front office got it.
2. Count forward 65 business days. Count Mondays through Fridays only.
3. Skip every federal and state holiday that falls in the window.
4. Do not skip summer weekdays — business days are not school days.
5. That date is the deadline for the eligibility decision, not just the testing.

What to do if the deadline passes

1. Put it in writing the same week. Email the case manager and the special education administrator. State the referral-receipt date, the deadline date, and that it has passed. A phone call creates no record.
2. 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.
3. File a state complaint. A missed timeline is a straightforward compliance violation. In Virginia this goes to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). It is free and does not require a lawyer.
4. Keep the paper trail. Every date, every email, every response — especially proof of when the referral was received.