Georgia IEP requirements: the 60-day clock with a summer pause, SST referrals, and transition by ninth grade

Georgia’s special education rules live in State Board of Education Rule 160-4-7, and three of them shape a case manager’s calendar more than anything federal: the evaluation clock runs 60 calendar days from consent but pauses for summer and long breaks (Rule 160-4-7-.04), transition planning starts at entry into ninth grade or age 16, whichever comes first (Rule 160-4-7-.06), and the state tracks every one of these dates as numbered events in GO-IEP, its online IEP system. Referrals come through the parent or the Student Support Team (SST) — Georgia’s name for the gen-ed intervention team. Every deadline below is cited to the SBOE rule or the Georgia DOE’s own guidance, in the same format as our Ohio and Michigan guides.

Every Georgia deadline in one table

The 60-day clock and when it pauses

The initial evaluation must be completed within 60 calendar days of receiving parental consent (Rule 160-4-7-.04(1)(b)). Georgia then writes the school calendar into the clock: holiday periods when students are out of attendance for five or more consecutive school days don’t count toward the 60 — including the weekend days on either side if they touch the break — and summer vacation, defined as any period when the majority of the district’s teachers are off contract, is excluded entirely. Two exceptions keep districts honest: consent received 30 or more days before the end of the school year must still be completed within the 60-day window (no parking spring referrals until August), and a child who turns three over the summer must have an eligibility decision and IEP in place by their third birthday. The clock also stops if the parent repeatedly fails to produce the child, or if the student changes districts mid-evaluation and the new district is making sufficient progress under an agreed completion date (.04(1)(c)).

After the eligibility team decides, the district has an additional 30 calendar days to develop and implement the IEP, per the GaDOE’s GO-IEP timeline guidance — so a clean initial chain is consent → 60 tolled days → eligibility → 30 days → services running. If you inherit a student mid-chain from another Georgia district, the evaluation events transfer with them; a student arriving from another state with an IEP in effect gets an evaluation only if the new district determines it’s necessary, and a new Georgia IEP if appropriate (Rule 160-4-7-.06(16)) — the receiving-teacher workflow in our transfer students guide applies in the meantime.

Transition at ninth grade — earlier than the federal floor

Federal law requires transition content in the IEP in effect when the student turns 16. Georgia moves the trigger to entry into ninth grade or age 16, whichever comes first, updated annually (Rule 160-4-7-.06(2)): measurable postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessments — training, education, employment, and where appropriate independent living — plus the transition services and courses of study to get there. The meeting invitation itself must flag transition as a purpose and name any outside agency invited (.06, meeting-notice provisions), and the student must be invited whenever postsecondary goals are on the table. In practice: every rising ninth grader on your caseload needs a transition-ready IEP that year, most of them at age 14. For the goals themselves, functional domains carry much of the load — our functional and life skills goals guide maps measurable structures onto independent-living targets.

Consent for services: the OSEP-driven revision

Georgia used to develop the IEP and offer FAPE before asking parents to consent to services. After advice from OSEP, the state revised the procedure: a district is not required to develop an IEP if the parent is certain they don’t want services, a parent is not required to sign the services consent before the initial IEP is developed, and — the part worth saying out loud at the table — consent for the provision of services covers the services recommended in all future IEPs unless the parent revokes it, not just the document in front of them. GO-IEP audits this as Event 14 (consent yes) or Event 12 (consent no) before the initial IEP can be finalized.

The 2026 backdrop: Georgia is on OSEP’s “needs assistance” list

In the U.S. Department of Education’s 2026 IDEA determinations (June 18, 2026), Georgia was designated “needs assistance” for the second or more consecutive year under Part B — a designation that legally obligates the Department to take enforcement action, such as directing how the state spends set-aside funds. States under that pressure pass it downhill as tighter district monitoring, which is why clean timeline documentation matters more in Georgia right now, not less. Our determinations explainer covers what each category means; the IEP compliance checklist is the per-document version of the same audit.

What this means for your caseload

• Log the consent-received date, then map the breaks. The 60-day clock is calendar days minus tolled breaks — compute the real due date against your district calendar the day consent lands, the way GO-IEP does.
• Spring referrals don’t wait for fall. Consent 30+ days before the last day of school keeps the full 60-day obligation running.
• Flag every rising ninth grader. Transition goals, assessments, courses of study, and a student invitation — in the IEP that covers ninth grade, regardless of age.
• Amendments still work the federal way. Georgia adopts the §300.324(a)(4) amendment-without-a-meeting mechanism (Rule 160-4-7-.06) — the workflow in our amendment guide applies, including the prior-written-notice step.

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