It is easy to leave a meeting with a decision in your head and nothing in your hands. Prior written notice exists to close that gap.
In plain terms, it is the school's duty to tell you in writing, before it acts, what it is going to do or not do about your child's special education, and why. The rule is short, and once you know its parts you can read any notice quickly.
When the school has to send one
The federal rule says a notice must be given when the school does either of two things: it proposes to start or change something, or it refuses to start or change something. The "something" is one of four items:
- Your child's identification, meaning whether your child is a child with a disability.
- Your child's evaluation.
- Your child's educational placement.
- The provision of a free appropriate public education, which covers services, supports, and goals in the IEP.
Examples that fit: an initial evaluation, a refusal to evaluate, a decision about eligibility, a move from one placement to another, and a change in the services listed in the IEP. Refusals count too. If you ask for a service and the school says no, the notice should come with that no.
The seven parts, in plain words
| Part | In plain words | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Action | What the school will do or will not do | A clear sentence, not a general statement about "supports" |
| Reasons | Why | Specific reasons, not only "the team decided" |
| Information used | Each evaluation, test, record, or report the school relied on | Names and dates of documents |
| Your rights | That procedural safeguards protect you, and how to get a copy | A pointer to the safeguards notice |
| Help | Where you can get help understanding all this | A contact or organization |
| Other options | What else the team considered, and why it said no | At least a short list |
| Other factors | Anything else that mattered | May be brief, but should not be blank |
Timing and language
The notice has to reach you a reasonable time before the school carries out the action or declines to act. The rule does not give a number of days. If a notice arrives the day a change takes effect, that is worth raising.
It also has to be written in language the general public can understand. If your first language is not English, the notice should be in your language or in the way you communicate, unless that is clearly not feasible. If your language has no written form, the school has to make sure the content is shared orally or by other means, check that you understood, and keep written proof that it did both.
Three situations where a notice should show up
- You ask for an evaluation and the school says no. The notice should state the refusal, the reasons, and the information the team used. Our guide on what to do if the school refuses to evaluate starts from this notice.
- The team agrees to evaluate. A notice describes the evaluation procedures planned, and it comes with a consent form. Consent starts the clock for the evaluation.
- The IEP team changes services or placement. If the team proposes cutting minutes, adding a service, or moving your child to a different setting, the notice should describe the change and why, and say what else was considered.
In each case you can read the notice for the same two things: is the action clear, and are the reasons specific enough for you to respond?
A notice is not an IEP, and it is not a consent form
Parents often mix these three documents up. They do different jobs.
| Document | What it does | Does it need your signature? |
|---|---|---|
| Prior written notice | Tells you what the school will or will not do, and why | No. It informs you |
| Consent | Asks for your informed agreement before certain actions, such as the first evaluation and the first special education services | Yes, in writing, for those actions |
| IEP | The written plan itself: present levels, goals, services, accommodations | Parents take part in developing it. Initial services need your consent |
Agreeing to an evaluation is not agreeing to services. Those are two separate consents. The federal consent rule says so directly.
When you only heard it out loud
If a decision was shared in a meeting or by phone, you can ask for the notice in writing. Keep it short and polite. The school then has to put its decision and its reasons on paper.
What a good notice looks like
The second one gives you something to respond to. You can see what the team looked at and what you might add, such as a private report.
If a notice never arrives
Ask for it, in writing, and keep a copy of your request. Your state parent training center can help you decide what to do next. A missing notice can be a failure to follow a federal requirement, and the state complaint process exists for violations of the federal special education rules. A state complaint has to be about something that happened no more than a year before it is filed, so do not let this sit for long.
To see how this plays out when a school says no to an evaluation, read what to do if the school refuses to evaluate your child. The notice that explains all of your rights, not just one decision, is covered in the procedural safeguards notice explained. Unfamiliar words are in the glossary.