IEP evaluation timelines by state

The same federal requirement produces a 3.6× spread — 25 school days in South Dakota, 90 calendar days in Alaska. Every figure below was read from the controlling state regulation or agency manual. Last verified 2026-08-12.

IDEA sets one national floor: an initial evaluation within 60 days of parental consent, with states free to substitute their own timeframe under 34 CFR §300.301(c)(1)(ii). Twenty-five states did something different, and the results do not line up on a single axis. Two structural differences matter more than the numbers.

What the clock covers. In some states it stops when testing ends. In Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont it does not stop until eligibility is determined. In Connecticut and Kansas it runs through IEP implementation. In Alaska it does not stop until services are being delivered.

Whether a second clock exists. Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire have no evaluation-to-meeting deadline at all, because the meeting sits inside the first window. Montana has none either — its rule says only “as soon as possible”. Publishing a number for those states invents law.

The 50-state matrix

Sorted alphabetically. “Clock ends at” is the event that stops the initial evaluation window — the field most often modelled incorrectly.

State	Initial evaluation	Unit	Clock ends at	Next deadline
Texas	45 school days	both	The written FIIE report is completed — not eligibility	30 CALENDAR days from the date the report was actually completed for the ARD committee to decide eligibility and write the IEP
Washington	35 school days to the report; 40 to the eligibility meeting	both	The completed evaluation report is delivered to the parent — not the eligibility decision	Eligibility meeting by the 40th school day after consent, no sooner than 5 school days after the report went out; then 30 CALENDAR days to the initial IEP
Michigan	30 school days	school	The written notice of the offer of FAPE is delivered to the parent	10 school days for the parent to consent to initial services, then 15 school days to initiate the IEP
Arizona	60 calendar days	calendar	The Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team's determination of eligibility	30 calendar days to develop the FIRST IEP — and only the first; successive and transfer IEPs get no such grace
Louisiana	60 business days	business	The integrated evaluation report reaches the special education administrator	30 calendar days to complete the IEP, then services within 10 school days of IEP development
Minnesota	30 school days	both	The evaluation report is DELIVERED to the parent, not merely completed	Initial IEP team meeting within 30 CALENDAR days of eligibility — the unit changes at the handoff
Missouri	60 calendar days	calendar	Eligibility decision rendered — the determination meeting is inside the window	30 calendar days from eligibility to hold the IEP meeting; services after that are untimed
North Carolina	90 days	calendar	Placement completed — not testing, and not the eligibility decision	None. Everything sits inside the 90 days; services follow 'as soon as possible' after the IEP is developed
South Carolina	60 days	calendar	All required information gathered — not the eligibility decision	15 days to determine eligibility, then 30 calendar days to the IEP
Tennessee	60 days	calendar	Eligibility determined	30 calendar days from the eligibility determination to the initial IEP
Wisconsin	60 days	both	The IEP team's eligibility determination — not the completion of testing	30 calendar days from the actual determination to the IEP and placement meeting
Colorado	60 days	calendar	Eligibility determined	Initial IEP within 90 calendar days of the SAME consent date — not a fresh window
Kentucky	60 school days	both	Services actually being delivered under the IEP	ARC meeting within 30 CALENDAR days of eligibility — nested inside the 60 school days
Maryland	60 days from consent AND 90 from referral	calendar	The IEP team meeting where eligibility is decided — not the completion of testing	30 calendar days from that meeting to develop the IEP
Florida	60 calendar days	calendar	Initial evaluation completed — not eligibility, not the IEP	30 calendar days from eligibility to an IEP developed and in effect — but NOTHING times the gap between finishing the evaluation and determining eligibility
California	60 days	calendar	Eligibility determined and the initial IEP developed at a team meeting	None in the initial chain — implementation is untimed, 'as soon as possible following the IEP team meeting'
Illinois	60 school days	school	The IEP developed — eligibility and the IEP meeting both inside the window	Services implemented within 10 school days, which is also a FLOOR — placement lands on day 10 unless the parent waives
Ohio	60 days	calendar	The ETR meeting where the team determines eligibility and signs the report	30 calendar days to develop AND IMPLEMENT the initial IEP, with a 90-day ceiling running from consent
Pennsylvania	60 days	calendar	A copy of the Evaluation Report presented to the parents	IEP implemented no later than 10 school days after completion
Massachusetts	30 school working days to assessments; 45 to the proposed IEP	both	Two copies of the proposed IEP and placement in the parent's hands	Parent has 30 calendar days from receipt to accept, reject, or reject in part
New York	60 calendar days	both	The initial individual evaluation is complete	60 SCHOOL days from the same consent date for the recommendation and for services to be arranged
Georgia	60 days	calendar	Eligibility determined	30 calendar days from eligibility to the initial IEP MEETING — implementation is untimed
Indiana	50 instructional days	school	Case conference committee convened and eligibility determined	Services within 10 instructional days of written consent to the initial IEP; every later IEP takes effect on the 11th instructional day after notice
New Jersey	90 days	calendar	IEP implemented — services actually running	A 30-calendar-day IEP-meeting clock from eligibility runs NESTED inside the 90; the earlier governs
Virginia	65 business days	business	Eligibility determined	30 calendar days from the actual eligibility determination to the IEP
Alabama	60 days	calendar	Evaluation complete — eligibility is a separate clock	30 calendar days to eligibility, then a further 30 to the IEP
Alaska	90 days	calendar	Services actually being delivered	30 calendar days to the IEP — nested, can only shorten the 90
Arkansas	60 days	calendar	Evaluation complete	30 calendar days to the evaluation/programming conference
Connecticut	45 days	school	IEP implemented — referral to implementation, not consent to report	None — it is all one window
Delaware	45 school or 90 calendar, whichever is less	both	Eligibility determined	30 calendar days to the IEP
Hawaii	60 days	calendar	Eligibility determined	15 calendar days from consent for initial services
Idaho	45 days	school	Eligibility determined, not testing complete	30 calendar days to develop AND implement the IEP
Iowa	60 days	calendar	Evaluation complete	30 calendar days to the initial IEP meeting
Kansas	60 days	school	IEP implemented — not eligibility	30 calendar days to develop the IEP, nested inside the 60
Maine	45 school days (ages 5–22); 60 calendar (birth–5)	both	Eligibility determined	None — eligibility sits inside the window
Mississippi	60 days	calendar	Comprehensive report signed	14 calendar days to eligibility, then 30 to the IEP
Montana	60 days	calendar	Assessments complete	No clock at all to the Evaluation Report meeting — “as soon as possible”
Nebraska	45 school or 60 calendar, whichever comes first	both	MDT report complete	30 calendar days to the IEP conference
Nevada	45 days	school	Evaluation conducted	30 calendar days to the IEP committee meeting
New Hampshire	60 days	calendar	Report written, meeting held AND eligibility decided	None — all three sit inside the 60
New Mexico	60 days	calendar	Evaluation and written report complete	15 school days to the EDT meeting, then 30 calendar to the IEP
North Dakota	60 days, capped at 90	calendar	The IWAR meeting, where eligibility is determined	30 calendar days to the initial IEP meeting
Oklahoma	45 days	school	The MEEGS meeting, where eligibility is determined	30 calendar days to the initial IEP
Oregon	60 days	school	The meeting to consider eligibility	30 calendar days to the initial IEP
Rhode Island	60 days by regulation — 63 by statute	calendar	Evaluation, report AND the eligibility meeting	15 school days to the IEP and to services starting
South Dakota	25 days	school	Evaluation complete	30 days — running from the END of the 25-day window
Utah	45 days	school	Evaluation and eligibility determination	30 calendar days to the IEP meeting
Vermont	60 days	calendar	Evaluation complete, report issued and eligibility decided	30 calendar days to the IEP
West Virginia	80 days	calendar	The Eligibility Committee meeting	30 days to the IEP (day type not stated in policy)
Wyoming	60 days	calendar	Evaluation complete	30 calendar days to the IEP

Transition age and the age of majority

Federal law requires transition content in the first IEP effective when the student turns 16. 36 of these 50 states start earlier, and three do not use age alone — Maine triggers on 9th grade or 16 whichever comes first, Delaware on age 14 or 8th grade whichever is earlier, and Oklahoma before 9th grade or age 15.

State	Transition trigger	Age of majority	Objectives on every IEP
Texas	Age 14	18	—
Washington	Age 16	18	—
Michigan	Age 16	18	Required
Arizona	Completion of 9th grade or age 16, whichever comes first	18	—
Louisiana	Age 16	18	—
Minnesota	Grade 9 (statute and MDE); the IEP-content rule separately requires transition-service needs at age 14	18	Required
Missouri	Age 16 now; before exiting 8th grade from 2027-28	18	—
North Carolina	Age 14 (initial components), age 16 (measurable postsecondary goals)	18	—
South Carolina	Age 13 — the earliest trigger in the country	18	—
Tennessee	Age 14	18	—
Wisconsin	Age 14	18	—
Colorado	Age 15 or grade 9, whichever comes first	21	—
Kentucky	Age 14 (course of study), age 16 (postsecondary goals)	18	—
Maryland	Age 14	18, but rights transfer only conditionally	Required
Florida	Grade 7 or age 12, whichever first (planning); grade 9 or age 14, whichever first (postsecondary goals)	18	—
California	Start of high school if the team determines it appropriate, otherwise not later than age 16	18	—
Illinois	Age 14½	18	Required
Ohio	Age 14	18	Required
Pennsylvania	Age 14	21 — and rights never transfer	—
Massachusetts	Age 14 — the IEP in effect when the student turns 14	18	Required
New York	Age 15 — the first IEP in effect when the student is 15	18 (records context; general transfer of rights not yet verified)	—
Georgia	Entry into 9th grade or age 16, whichever comes first	18	—
Indiana	Grade 9 or age 14, whichever occurs first	18	—
New Jersey	Age 14 for strengths, interests and course of study; age 16 for postsecondary goals and transition services	18	Required
Virginia	Age 14, or earlier if the child enters secondary school sooner; interagency linkages added at 16	18	—
Alabama	Age 16	19	—
Alaska	Age 16	18	Required
Arkansas	Age 16	18	—
Connecticut	Age 14	18	Required
Delaware	Age 14 or 8th grade, whichever comes first	18, with an IEP-team capacity review	—
Hawaii	Age 14 (course of study), 16 (postsecondary goals)	18	—
Idaho	Age 16	18 — notice due by the 17th birthday	—
Iowa	Age 14	18	—
Kansas	Age 14 (plus interagency linkages at 16)	18	—
Maine	9th grade or age 16, whichever comes first	18	—
Mississippi	Age 14	21	—
Montana	Age 16	18	—
Nebraska	Age 14	19 — but rights never transfer	—
Nevada	Age 14	18	—
New Hampshire	Age 14	18	Required
New Mexico	Age 14	18	—
North Dakota	Age 16 — must be in effect by the 16th birthday	18	—
Oklahoma	Before 9th grade or age 15, whichever comes first	18	—
Oregon	Age 16 (age 14 named as an option)	18	—
Rhode Island	Age 14	18	Required
South Dakota	Age 16	18	—
Utah	Age 14	18	—
Vermont	Age 16	18	Required
West Virginia	Age 14	18 — notice due by the 17th birthday	—
Wyoming	Age 16	18	—

Three states break the transfer-of-rights assumption

Nebraska declined the federal transfer-of-rights option outright, so parental rights never transfer at any age. A teacher arriving from another state will wrongly stop notifying the parents of an 18-year-old. Mississippi's age of majority is 21, so the transfer notice is due at 20 and parents remain the consent-givers through age 20. Alabama's is 19.

Short-term objectives survived in 12 states

IDEA 2004 removed short-term objectives and benchmarks except for students taking alternate assessments. Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Alaska, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont never followed. Four of the five are in New England. A goals-only IEP written from habit in another state is facially non-compliant on arrival, and nothing in federal training warns of it.

What each state gets you wrong on

One line per state — the requirement most often missed by someone applying another state's habits.

State	The trap	Citation
Texas	The 30-calendar-day ARD clock runs from the date the FIIE report was ACTUALLY completed, not from the 45-school-day deadline — so finishing early pulls the ARD deadline forward with it. And when that 30th day lands in summer, the current rule gives you until the 15th SCHOOL DAY of the next school year, not the first day of classes. The older wording was replaced effective 30 July 2024 and still circulates widely.	19 TAC §89.1011
Washington	As of 11 June 2026 the 35-school-day clock no longer ends at eligibility — it ends when the completed report is in the parent's hands, and the eligibility meeting is a separate deadline at 40 school days that cannot be held until 5 school days after the report went out. Finishing early does not pull day 40 forward, and the codified WAC still carries the old 35-day eligibility language, so anyone reading only the rule will run the wrong clock.	RCW 28A.155.265; WAC 392-172A-03005
Michigan	Michigan's 30 school days is not an evaluation window — it runs from receipt of consent all the way to the written FAPE-offer notice landing with the parent, so testing, eligibility, the IEP meeting and the notice all have to fit inside it. The separate rule giving 7 school days after the meeting to send that notice buys nothing past day 30, so a meeting held on school day 29 leaves one school day, not seven.	MARSE R 340.1721b(1)
Arizona	Arizona moved its transition trigger ahead of the federal age-16 floor by a State Board rule change approved 21 October 2024 — it is now the IEP in effect when the student COMPLETES 9th grade or turns 16, whichever is first, plus an estimated graduation date and written notice one year before anticipated graduation. Second trap: the 15-school-day response to a written parent request and the 45-calendar-day screening clock are both PRE-consent, and neither starts the 60-day evaluation window.	A.A.C. R7-2-401 (Supp. 25-4, 31 December 2025)
Louisiana	Louisiana business days exclude federal AND state holidays, not just weekends — and the clock is suspended entirely between 1 June and 1 September, with days already consumed subtracted before it restarts. A spring consent does not simply run through the summer. Louisiana also serves gifted students on an IEP under the same bulletin.	Bulletin 1706 §302.C.1.a; Bulletin 1508 §511
Minnesota	The 30 school days start when the district RECEIVES permission and stop only when the report is in the parent's hands — a finished assessment with an undelivered report is a missed deadline. Minnesota also still requires short-term objectives on every IEP, having never conformed its rule to the 2004 IDEA amendments.	Minn. R. 3525.2550, subp. 2
Missouri	Out-of-state teachers assume Missouri's 60 days run inexorably through the summer. They do not — Regulation III lets a district toll both the 30- and 60-day clocks for documented 'just cause (school breaks for summer or holidays, student illness)', but the tolling only protects you if the reason is written into the student's record. At the other end the clock is stricter than it looks: it stops on the eligibility DECISION, not on finishing the testing.	Missouri State Plan for Special Education, Reg. III, incorporated at 5 CSR 20-300.110
North Carolina	The 90 days runs from the WRITTEN REFERRAL, not from parental consent — and it must produce a completed placement, not a completed evaluation. Working back from day 90, the IEP meeting has to land around day 75 to 80 with testing finished weeks earlier. A district that starts counting at the signed consent form is already weeks behind.	NC 1503-2.2(c)(1)
South Carolina	South Carolina inserts a 15-day eligibility clock between the end of the evaluation and the eligibility decision, and it lives in SEA policy rather than in the regulation — which is why it is the state's most-missed deadline. Transition also triggers at 13, but state monitoring only reviews IEPs from 16 up, so a missing transition page on a 13-year-old will not be caught.	SC Regulation 43-243; SEPG (2013) §III.D
Tennessee	The 60 days is not a testing clock — the eligibility DECISION has to land inside it, so a district that finishes testing on day 58 and meets on day 65 is out of compliance. Tennessee also serves intellectually gifted students under special education, which surprises almost every out-of-state teacher.	Rule 0520-01-09-.05(1)(f)
Wisconsin	Two units in one referral: the pre-consent clock is 15 BUSINESS days while everything after it is calendar days. And a DPI deadline most summaries miss entirely — the Postsecondary Transition Plan must reach DPI within 30 days of the annual IEP meeting, for every student 14 and over, every year.	Wis. Stat. § 115.78(3)(a)
Colorado	Both Colorado clocks share one day zero — written consent. The 90-day IEP deadline is not a new window that opens at eligibility, so an evaluation that uses all 60 days leaves only 30 to hold eligibility AND write the IEP. Age of majority is also 21, not 18.	ECEA Rules 4.02(3)(c), 4.03(1)(d)(i)
Kentucky	Kentucky has no standalone evaluation deadline at all. Day 60 is the day services must already be running, so a team that spends the whole window testing has already missed it. The master window is school days while the ARC and notice clocks are calendar days.	707 KAR 1:320 § 2(3)
Maryland	In Maryland the word 'evaluation' means the IEP team's review MEETING, not the testing — a team that finished all testing on day 88 has not met the 90-day deadline until it has met and decided. Two clocks also run at once and the earlier controls, so a slow consent chase makes the referral date the real deadline.	COMAR 13A.05.01.06A(1)
Florida	Two traps. The 60 days are calendar days with big bites taken out — all school holidays, Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks and the whole summer period do not count — so a May consent routinely lands the due date in the fall. And 'transition at 12' is only half the rule: age 12 or 7th grade starts planning, but the measurable postsecondary goals and the signed statement of intent to earn a standard diploma are not due until the first IEP in effect at 9th grade or age 14.	Rule 6A-6.0331, F.A.C.; Rule 6A-6.03028, F.A.C.
California	The 60 days run from written consent, not from the referral — and the referral only starts a 15-day assessment-plan clock, after which the parent gets at least 15 more days to decide. Nothing obliges a parent to sign quickly, so referral-to-IEP has no outer bound. The vacation exclusion is also measured in SCHOOLDAYS: a five-day spring break does not pause the clock, a two-week winter break does.	EC 56043(c); EC 56344(a)
Illinois	Illinois defines 'date of referral' as the date of written parental CONSENT, so the request date never starts the evaluation clock — it starts only a 14-school-day clock to decide and send the consent request. And there is no separate post-eligibility IEP window: the meeting has to happen inside the same 60 school days.	105 ILCS 5/14-8.02(b); 23 IAC 226.110(d)
Ohio	Ohio's initial-IEP deadline is satisfied by IMPLEMENTATION, not by holding a meeting, and the governing clock is whichever expires first. An evaluation that uses its full 60 days leaves roughly 30 to write the IEP, hold the meeting and start services. Ohio also requires signed parental consent before any move along the continuum of placements.	OAC 3301-51-07(H)(2)
Pennsylvania	Two traps pulling opposite ways. The 60 days are calendar days but the entire summer break is subtracted, so a Permission to Evaluate signed in May legally yields an Evaluation Report in late September. And Pennsylvania is one of the very few states where parental rights never transfer — the age of majority for educational purposes is 21, and the Transfer of Rights block on the PA IEP is informational only.	22 Pa. Code §14.123(b)
Massachusetts	The 45 school working days is not time to evaluate — it is time to evaluate, convene, decide eligibility, WRITE the IEP and physically deliver two copies. Coming from a 60-calendar-day state, case managers treat the deadline as testing-complete and miss it by a full drafting cycle.	603 CMR 28.05(1)
New York	The two sixties start together, not in sequence. Both run from receipt of consent — 60 calendar days to finish the evaluation, 60 school days for services to be in place — so finishing testing early buys nothing, and a spring consent means the evaluation is due mid-summer while the services deadline slides deep into the fall.	8 NYCRR 200.4(b)(1), (d), (e)(1)
Georgia	The 60 calendar days are not wall-calendar days — summer vacation and any five-consecutive-school-day closure are subtracted, so a March consent can legitimately fall due in September. But consent received 30 or more days before the last day of school gets no summer pause at all.	Ga. SBOE Rule 160-4-7-.04(1)(b)
Indiana	The 50-day clock does not stop when testing is done — the rule requires the evaluation conducted AND the CCC convened inside the window, so the eligibility meeting has to be calendared the day consent arrives. Because Indiana counts instructional days, a consent signed in late April can push a lawful CCC into September.	511 IAC 7-40-5(d)
New Jersey	New Jersey's 90-day clock ends when services are running, not when the paperwork is signed — and it is not the only clock. A separate 30-day deadline runs from eligibility to the IEP meeting, and a 15-day prior-written-notice period must elapse before implementation unless the parent waives it, which can make a late-scheduled IEP meeting mathematically impossible to implement inside the 90 days.	N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.4(e)
Virginia	Day zero is the day the SPECIAL EDUCATION ADMINISTRATOR receives the referral — not the day a parent hands it to the principal. A referral can sit in the building-level process for 13 business days before the 65-day clock starts. The second trap: unlike almost every other state, ANY revision to IEP services requires fresh written parental consent.	8VAC20-81-60 B 1 g
Alabama	The full path is 60 + 30 + 30 = 120 calendar days, not 60. A mandatory eight-week Problem Solving Team intervention runs before referral, and case managers are capped at 20 student records.	Ala. Admin. Code r. 290-8-9-.02(1)(b)
Alaska	Not an evaluation clock. One continuous obligation ending in services delivered, so a tracker modelling it as “60 to evaluate then 30 to meet” is wrong in both directions.	4 AAC 52.115(a)
Arkansas	A mandatory referral conference runs before consent, on 7- and 21-calendar-day clocks that expire before the evaluation clock even starts.	6 CAR § 130-603(a)(1)
Connecticut	Connecticut abandoned the federal 60-calendar-day timeline entirely in January 2020. Any product showing 60 calendar days for Connecticut is wrong.	R.C.S.A. § 10-76d-13(a)(1)
Delaware	Both prongs must be computed. School days normally bind, but a long break flips it to the calendar prong. Meeting notice is a hard 10 school days.	14 DE Admin. Code 925 § 2.3
Hawaii	One statewide district, so there is no intrastate transfer rule at all — moving islands or to a charter school is not an LEA change and starts no clock.	Haw. Admin. R. § 8-60-33(c)(1)
Idaho	Out-of-state transfers are treated as initial evaluations, and the transfer sequence mixes three day types inside a fortnight: 2 school days, 5 school days, 14 calendar days.	Idaho Special Education Manual, Ch. 4 § 3.F
Iowa	The Area Education Agency, not the district, conducts evaluations and certifies entitlement. Speech- or OT-only IEPs count as full special education.	Iowa Admin. Code r. 281—41.301(3)“a”
Kansas	Gifted students receive real IEPs under state law. Written parental consent is also required for any change of 25% or more in service duration or frequency — federal law requires no such consent.	K.A.R. 91-40-8(f)
Maine	Birth to five is handled by Child Development Services, a statewide intermediate unit, not by districts. The written evaluation report is separately due at 40 school days.	05-071 C.M.R. ch. 101 § V.1.A(3)(a)(i)
Mississippi	The age of majority is 21, so parental rights do not transfer at 18. The transfer-of-rights notice is due at 20 and parents remain the consent-givers throughout.	Miss. Admin. Code Title 7, Part 34 § 300.301(c)(1)
Montana	Written parental consent is required on the ANNUAL IEP, not just initial placement, with a two-notice 15-day override sequence if the parent does not sign.	ARM 10.16.3321(1), adopting 34 CFR 300.301
Nebraska	Nebraska declined the federal transfer-of-rights option outright. Parental rights never transfer, at any age — so notices keep going to parents for an adult student.	92 NAC 51-009.04A1
Nevada	Only the State Superintendent may extend the evaluation window, and by no more than 15 school days — a parent–district agreement is not enough.	NAC 388.337(1)(a)
New Hampshire	The number matches federal but the scope does not. A district finishing testing on day 58 and meeting on day 70 is compliant federally and non-compliant in New Hampshire.	N.H. Admin. Code Ed 1107.01(c) with Ed 1102.02(n)
New Mexico	Four day types run in sequence in one referral: 15 school, 60 calendar, 15 school, 30 calendar — with a school-break override that swaps units again.	6.31.2.10(F)(2) NMAC
North Dakota	A 90-calendar-day hard ceiling exists in the rule and appears in none of the state's guidance. Age-out is governed by an August 1 cutoff, not the student's birthday.	N.D. Admin. Code 67-23-01-03
Oklahoma	45 school days is usually LONGER on the calendar than the federal 60, because school days exclude breaks. Marketing it as faster would be misleading.	OSDE Policies & Procedures 2026, Ch. 5 § 3.D.1
Oregon	The annual review is a hard 365 days, not “annually”. A meeting on day 366 is out of compliance even within the same school year.	OAR 581-015-2110(5)(a); annual review at 581-015-2225(1)
Rhode Island	A statute effective 1 July 2026 sets 63 calendar days and cites the very regulation subsections that still say 60. Publishing a single number is wrong for some readers either way.	200-RICR-20-30-6.7.2(A)(1)(b); R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-24-1.1(g)
South Dakota	The shortest window in the country, and the downstream clock does not move if you finish early — it is anchored to the window, not to completion.	ARSD 24:05:25:03
Utah	Units switch mid-referral: 45 school days to evaluate, then 30 calendar days to meet. Utah also requires an annual IEP goal tied to transition for every student 14 and over.	USBE Special Education Rules (June 2023), Rule II.D.2.a
Vermont	Eligibility has three prongs, not two — services must also be unprovidable through the general-education support system, so students can lose eligibility on grounds that would not disqualify them elsewhere.	VT State Board Rule 2362.2.1(b); eligibility at Rule 2362(a)
West Virginia	Gifted students receive IEPs in grades 1–8 only. A reevaluation in 8th grade decides whether they qualify as “exceptional gifted”; if not, they drop to a Personalized Education Plan.	WVBE Policy 2419, Ch. 3 § 2.A
Wyoming	Preschool is not run by school districts — the Department of Health is deemed an intermediate educational unit for ages 3 to 5. Specific learning disability still uses a codified discrepancy formula.	WDE Rules ch. 7 § 4(b)(i)(B), adopting 34 C.F.R. § 300.301

Where a state's own sources disagree

In 26 states the controlling text and the state's own published guidance currently say different things. We show both rather than picking one, because either choice would be wrong for some readers.

Texas: TEA's own SPED Support guidance still says 'if the 30th day falls during the summer, the ARD committee has until the first day of classes' — the pre-2024 text. The currently effective §89.1011(g) says the 15th school day of the following school year. The rule controls, which means checking TEA's website will appear to confirm the wrong answer.
Washington: RCW 28A.155.265(1)(c) puts the eligibility meeting at the 40th school day while the still-codified WAC 392-172A-03005(3)(a) says eligibility is decided within 35. OSPI's conforming rulemaking is filed but unadopted. The same pattern appears on exit age — the statute says through the school year the student turns 22, the codified rule still says 21.
Michigan: MDE's own Guidance for Timeline for Initial Evaluations (March 2022) still cites the pre-2024 subrule numbers, which the June 2024 amendments renumbered, and runs the 15-school-day implementation clock from the date of the district's notice while the rule text runs it from the parent's RECEIPT of that notice.
Arizona: ADE's own IEP FAQ page still recites the pre-2024 federal trigger — 'if the child turns 16 while an IEP is in effect' — which contradicts the amended R7-2-401(G)(4)(a).
Louisiana: Bulletin 1706 §323.C.1 states the post-eligibility clock as '30 days' from the determination of need; Bulletin 1530 §105.A and §307.B.2 state it as '30 calendar days' from dissemination of the written report. Same number, subtly different anchor.
Minnesota: Minnesota's statute and MDE guidance put transition at grade 9, while the IEP-content rule separately requires a transition-service-needs statement beginning at age 14.
Missouri: DESE's own documents use two names for the same day-30 obligation. The controlling State Plan requires a 'Notice of Intent to Evaluate' within 30 calendar days; DESE's still-posted 2017 flow chart instead requires a 'Review of Existing Data' and a 'Notice of Action'. Regulation V uses the federal term 'prior written notice' throughout and never says 'Notice of Action', while DESE's forms use 'Notice of Action' exclusively.
South Carolina: South Carolina's own two documents disagree on the 15-day eligibility clock: the Policies and Procedures say '15 days' unqualified while the later SEPG says 'fifteen business days'.
Maryland: Maryland's transfer of rights is neither a yes nor a no: Md. Educ. Art. §8-412.1(a) transfers at 18 only on documentation of one of six circumstances, and MSDE summarises it as rights NOT transferring except in limited cases.
Florida: A currency gap rather than a disagreement: FLDOE's own May 2025 ESE Services deck lists only three exclusions from the 60-day count, because the fourth — inclement weather and natural disaster — was added effective 23 September 2025. Any FLDOE deck older than late September 2025 is now incomplete.
California: EC 56043 was repealed and re-added by AB 438 operative 1 July 2025, changing both the subdivision lettering and the transition trigger. Any secondary summary written before mid-2025 describes the inoperative version.
Illinois: 23 IAC 226.110 contradicts itself — subsection (d) folds the IEP meeting into the 60 school days while subsection (j), still in the published rule, says the meeting is due within 30 days after eligibility. The statute and ISBE guidance both apply (d).
Ohio: Short-term objectives. OAC 3301-51-07(E)(1)(c) reads as requiring benchmarks or objectives in every goal, but ORC 3323.011(B) makes them discretionary with the department and (A)(3) attaches benchmarks only to alternate-assessment students. The required PR-07 form carries an unconditional objectives block.
Pennsylvania: 22 Pa. Code §14.131(a)(6) says the IEP must be implemented within 10 school days of its COMPLETION; PaTTAN's Annotated IEP says 10 school days after the final IEP is PRESENTED to the parent. Those are different dates and the regulation controls.
Massachusetts: 603 CMR 28.04(2) sets the evaluation at 'within 30 school days' while 28.05(1) sets the same clock at '30 school working days'. Neither 'school working day' nor a reconciliation appears in the definitions at 28.02.
New York: The regulation says only '60 days' in 200.4(b)(1); NYSED's Parent's Guide and CSE Process Timeline supply 'calendar'. The same 2012 rulemaking wrote '60 calendar days' into 200.16(e)(1) for preschool while leaving 200.4(b)(1) as bare '60 days'.
Georgia: The rule requires only that the IEP MEETING be held within 30 days, with services following 'as soon as possible'. GaDOE's own GO-IEP guidance states it as 30 days to 'develop and implement'. The rule controls; GO-IEP is the stricter standard the state audits against.
Indiana: IDOE's Indicator 11 monitoring guide scores 'initial evaluation completed within 50 instructional days' off an evaluation end date, while the rule requires the CCC to have convened in the same window. Teams calibrating to the audit metric will schedule late CCCs.
New Jersey: 6A:14-3.4(h)6iii authorizes extending 'the time to complete an evaluation pursuant to (c) above', but (c) is the parental-refusal provision and the evaluation timeline is at (e). The cross-reference appears to be an error in the code.
Alaska: A widely-cited advocacy publication still gives 45 school days — the figure Alaska replaced in 2012.
Arkansas: DESE's own process guide asserts a 365-day annual review rule; the section it cites contains no such language.
Hawaii: Exit age is unresolvable: the rule says 3–20, the department's site says 3–21, the statute says under 22.
Nebraska: The rule says 45 school days; the department enforces a 60-calendar-day cap it promised to codify in 2019 and never did.
New Mexico: Gifted students moved out of IDEA into a separate GIEP scheme in July 2023; major legal mirrors still serve the repealed part title.
North Dakota: Three official documents give three different, incomplete lists of the exceptions to the 60-day clock.
Rhode Island: Statute says 63, regulation and the department's own site still say 60.

The cause is almost always the same: a state amends a statute or rule and never conforms its own guidance, forms or website. The controlling text and the published text drift apart, and secondary sources copy whichever they found first.

FAQ

What is the IEP evaluation timeline in each state?

It ranges from 25 school days in South Dakota to 90 calendar days in Alaska and New Jersey, with Indiana at 50 instructional days and Virginia at 65 business days in between. IDEA sets a 60-day federal floor but expressly lets states substitute their own timeframe, and most do. The two extremes are not even measured in the same unit, so they cannot be compared without converting against a school calendar.

Do school days or calendar days count for an IEP evaluation?

Both, depending on the state and the specific deadline. Many states mix units inside a single referral — New Mexico runs 15 school days, then 60 calendar, then 15 school, then 30 calendar. New Hampshire uses five distinct day types in one student's file, including business days and instruction days. Any system storing a single 'days' field will compute the wrong dates.

Which states require transition planning before age 16?

Most of the states reviewed start earlier than the federal age-16 floor. Most use age 14. Maine triggers on 9th grade or age 16, whichever comes first; Delaware on age 14 or 8th grade, whichever is earlier; Oklahoma before 9th grade or age 15. Grade-based triggers can pull the requirement to age 13.

Does the age of majority for an IEP always transfer at 18?

No. Mississippi's age of majority is 21 and Alabama's is 19. Nebraska declined the federal transfer-of-rights option entirely, so parental rights never transfer there at any age — districts must keep notifying parents of an adult student.

Which states still require short-term objectives on every IEP?

Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Alaska. IDEA 2004 removed short-term objectives and benchmarks except for students taking alternate assessments, but these five never followed. In New Hampshire the default is inverted — objectives are required unless the parent decides they are unnecessary.

Where does the evaluation clock actually stop?

This varies more than the number does. In some states it stops when testing is finished. In Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont it does not stop until eligibility is determined. In Connecticut and Kansas it runs through IEP implementation, and in Alaska it does not stop until services are actually being delivered.

Method and limits

Each state was researched against its controlling regulation or agency manual, with every figure supported by a verbatim quotation and a source retrieved at the time of writing. Law-firm and advocacy sites were used only to locate official citations, never as the citation itself. Anything that could not be sourced was left out rather than filled in.

This now covers all 50 states, but coverage is not the same as certainty. Several controlling documents are old and still in force — Hawaii's rule dates from 2009, Wyoming's from 2010 — while others changed under us: Washington rewrote its evaluation timeline on 11 June 2026 and the codified rule still contradicts the statute, and California's EC 56043 was repealed and re-added in July 2025.

Some questions genuinely have no answer, and we say so rather than pick one. Hawaii's upper age of eligibility is 3–20 in the rule, 3–21 on the department's website and under 22 in statute. New York never states whether parental rights transfer at the age of majority, so we do not either. Maryland's transfer is conditional on documenting one of six circumstances, which is neither a yes nor a no. Where a state contradicts itself, both readings are published above. Verify against the controlling text before relying on any figure for a compliance decision.