Kansas Special Education Process Handbook

Kansas State Department of Education

CHAPTER 11

FORMAL COMPLAINT

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C HAPTER 11: FORMAL C OMP LAIN T

CHAPTER 11

FORMAL COMPLAINT

INTRODUCTION

Formal complaint is one of the methods parents of children with exceptionalities or others have to resolve special

education disagreements with the school district. Although most diﬀerences are successfully resolved at the local level,

three state processes are available to parents, if they are at impasse with a school district:

• Formal complaint,

• Mediation (Chapter 10), and

• Due process hearing (Chapter 12).

Formal complaint is one of the parent rights (procedural safeguards, see Chapter 1) aﬀorded under federal and state

regulations (K.A.R. 91-40-51; 34 C.F.R. 300.151). The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is mandated to make

available an opportunity for individuals or organizations to ﬁle formal complaints against school districts. At the end of the

chapter, a ﬂow chart illustrates the steps in the process, and a timeline shows the times and responsible parties for the

required steps.

For information about the formal complaint process, contact Families Together (800-264-6343), Kansas Disability Rights

Center (877-776-1541), or Special Education Services at the KSDE (800-203-9462). The Formal Complaint form may be

found at https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=603

This chapter outlines the steps involved in the formal complaint process:

A. Filing a Formal Complaint

B. Investigating the Complaint

C. Following Up on the Complaint

D. Appealing the Decision

E. Sanctions by the State Board of Education

A. FILING A FORMAL COMPLAINT

Any individual or organization may ﬁle a formal complaint if they believe that a school district is not complying with federal

or state laws or regulations relating to special education. The formal complaint must be for a situation that occurred during

the past year.

The formal complaint must be in writing and signed by the person or organization making the complaint. The complaint

must state that the school is not complying with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act

(IDEA), the Kansas Special Education for Exceptional Children Act, or the corresponding federal or state regulations and

give the facts upon which the statement is based. When the complaint involves a speciﬁc child, the complaint must also

include the following:

• The child’s name and address of residence, or other contact information if the child is a homeless child or youth;

• the name of the school the child is attending;

• a description of the problem involving the child; and

• a proposed resolution to the problem, if a possible resolution is known and available to the complainant.

The party ﬁling the complaint must forward a copy of the complaint to the school against which the allegations are made

at the same time the complaint is ﬁled with the commissioner of education.

The parent of any child with an exceptionality (disabilities and giftedness) including eligible students receiving services in

public schools, private schools and other educational settings are entitled to ﬁle a formal complaint if they believe

appropriate legal procedures have not been followed or implemented.

If a formal complaint is received that is part of a due process hearing, or the complaint contains multiple issues of which

one or more are part of such a hearing, the state must set aside the complaint, or any part of the complaint that is being

addressed in the due process hearing, until the hearing is over. Any issue in the complaint that is not a part of the due

process hearing must be resolved through the formal complaint process.

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Forms for ﬁling a formal complaint may be found at https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=603. A complaint must be

mailed or hand-delivered to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), Special Education and Title Services,

Landon State Oﬃce Building, 900 SW Jackson, Suite 620, Topeka, KS 66612. Alternatively, complaints may be emailed to

[email protected]g. Emailed complaints are ﬁled when KSDE staﬀ open the email. Additionally, a copy of the

complaint must be sent to the school district against which the complaint is ﬁled.

B. INVESTIGATING THE COMPLAINT

The Special Education and Title Services Team at the Kansas State Department of Education must

resolve a formal complaint within 30 calendar days from the date the complaint is received in the

oﬃce, unless exceptional circumstances exist.

When a formal complaint is received a letter acknowledging receipt of the formal complaint is sent to

the person making the complaint, the special education director, and the superintendent. A copy of

the formal complaint is attached with the letter to the special education director and the

superintendent.

The complaint investigator will contact the person making the complaint and the special education

director to clarify the issue(s), review all relevant records and documents, and determine whether or

not the facts stated in the complaint are correct and, if so, whether they substantiate a violation of the

requirements of special education laws or regulations.

The investigator will contact the agency against which the complaint is ﬁled to allow the agency to

respond to the complaint with facts and information supporting its position, oﬀer a proposal to resolve the complaint, or

oﬀer to engage in mediation to resolve the complaint. Both parties can provide additional information to the investigator

that is relevant to the issue. Generally, neither party can introduce a new issue during the investigation. However, the

investigator may allow the complaining party to introduce a new issue during the investigation. The requirements in K.A.R.

91-40-51 apply to any new issue added to the complaint. If the investigator allows a new issue to be added to the

investigation, the investigator will give the school district timely notice of the new issue in order for the school district to

respond to the new issue. KSDE does not consider the addition of a new issue an exceptional circumstance justifying an

extension of time to complete the investigation. Therefore, the addition of a new issue alone should not aﬀect the 30-day

timeline for resolution of the complaint. If the investigator does not allow a new issue to be added to the investigation, the

complaining party may ﬁle a separate complaint.

After the investigation, the complaint investigator writes a report of the ﬁndings addressing each of the allegations in the

complaint and which contains: (a) ﬁndings of fact and conclusions; (b) the reasons for KSDE’s ﬁnal decision; and (c) any

corrective action or actions that are required including the time period within which each action is to be taken. The report

is to be sent to the parties within 30 days of the receipt of the complaint unless there are exceptional circumstances, or the

parties agree to extend the 30 day timeline to engage in mediation. Each complaint report is dated. The date of the report

coincides with the date the report is mailed. The person mailing the report obtains a post oﬃce receipt showing the date

the report was mailed. This may be accomplished either by sending the report to the parties by certiﬁed mail or by

obtaining a Certiﬁcate of Mailing. A copy of the receipts showing the date of mailing are forwarded to Special Education

and Title Services. If the report is sent to both parties by e-mail, the e-mail serves as the receipt.

C. FOLLOW UP ON THE COMPLAINT

If the report from the formal complaint requires corrective actions, the school shall, within 10 calendar days of the date of

the report, submit one of the following to the KSDE Special Education and Title Services Team:

1. Documentation to verify it accepts the corrective action(s) in the report, if any;

2. A written request for more time to complete the required action(s), with justiﬁcation for this request; or

3. A written notice of appeal.

If the district asks for more time to complete one or more of the required corrective actions, a review committee of at least

three people at KSDE are appointed to review the request and the justiﬁcation for an extension. The committee shall make

a decision regarding the request within ﬁve business days of the date that the request was received, and their decision is

ﬁnal. If the school fails to respond to a report within the time allowed sanctions may be invoked.

The KSDE monitors corrective actions to ensure they are completed. When the corrective actions are completed by the

school, the Special Education and Title Services Team sends a notice of completion to the school with a copy to the person

making the complaint. At that point, the complaint ﬁle is closed.

KSDE’s working deﬁnition for

exceptional circumstance

extensions of formal

complaint timelines: An

exceptional circumstance

arises when an event or series

of events, beyond the control

of the agency or the

investigator, reasonably

justiﬁes an extension of time

in which to complete an

investigation.

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D. APPEALING THE DECISION

After the person making the complaint and the school receive the written report of ﬁndings, each has 10 calendar days

from the date of the report to ﬁle an appeal. The State Commissioner of Education has designated the KSDE Special

Education and Title Services Team (SETS) to receive appeals on the Commissioner’s behalf. An appeal is ﬁled on the day it

is received in the SETS oﬃce. Each notice of appeal shall provide a detailed statement of the basis for alleging that the

report is incorrect.

The following steps are followed for appeals:

1. An appeal committee of at least three KSDE members shall be appointed to review the report and to consider

information provided by the school, the complainant, or others.

2. The hearing process, including any hearing conducted by the appeal committee, shall be completed within 15

days from the date of receipt of the appeal notice.

3. A decision shall be rendered within ﬁve days after the appeal process is completed, unless the appeal committee

determines that exceptional circumstances exist. Then the decision shall be rendered as soon as possible.

If the person making the complaint or the school does not appeal the decision and no corrective actions are required, the

complaint ﬁle is closed.

E. SANCTIONS BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

The Kansas State Board of Education has sanctions available if corrective action required by a formal complaint

investigation is not implemented. Additionally, if an appeal committee aﬃrms a compliance report that requires corrective

action by a school, that district must initiate the required corrective action immediately. If after ﬁve days, no required

corrective action has been initiated, the school district will be notiﬁed of the sanction(s) that will be taken to assure

compliance as determined by the KSDE. Sanctions may include any of the following:

• the issuance of an accreditation deﬁciency advisement;

• the withholding of state or federal funds otherwise available to the agency;

• the award of monetary reimbursement to the complainant; or

• any combination of the above actions.

K.A.R. 91-40-51. Filing complaints with the state department of education.

(a) Any person or organization may ﬁle a written, signed complaint alleging that an agency has violated a state or federal special education law or

regulation. Also, a prevailing party in a due process hearing may ﬁle a complaint alleging that the other party has failed to implement the hearing

decision. The complaint shall include the following information:

(1) A statement that the agency has violated a requirement of state or federal special education laws or regulations;

(2) the facts on which the statement is based;

(3) the signature of and contact information for the complainant; and

(4) if the complaint involves a speciﬁc child, the following information:

(A) The child's name and address of residence, or other contact information if the child is a homeless child or youth;

(B) the name of the school the child is attending;

(D) a proposed resolution to the problem, if a possible resolution is known and available to the complainant.

(b) (1) The complaint shall allege a violation that occurred not more than one year before the date the complaint is received and shall be ﬁled with the

commissioner of education.

(2) The party ﬁling the complaint shall forward a copy of the complaint to the agency against which the allegations are made at the same time the

complaint is ﬁled with the commissioner of education.

(c) Upon receipt of a complaint, an investigation shall be initiated. At a minimum, each investigation shall include the following:

(1) A discussion with the complainant during which additional information may be gathered and speciﬁc allegations of noncompliance identiﬁed,

veriﬁed, and recorded;

(2) contact with the agency against which the complaint is ﬁled to allow the agency to respond to the complaint with facts and information

supporting its position, oﬀer a proposal to resolve the complaint, or oﬀer to engage in mediation to resolve the complaint; and

(3) a written report of ﬁndings of fact and conclusions, including reasons for the decision, and any corrective action or actions that are required,

including the time period within which each action is to be taken. Unless the parent and the agency agree to engage in mediation, this report shall be

sent to the parties within 30 days of the receipt of the complaint. If the parties mediate but fail to resolve the issues, the report shall be sent 30 days

after the department received notice that mediation has failed.

(d) An on-site investigation may be conducted before issuing a report.

(e) (1) If a report requires corrective action by an agency, that agency, within 10 days of the date of the report, shall submit to the state director of special

education one of the following:

(A) Documentation to verify acceptance of the corrective action or actions speciﬁed in the report;

(B) a written request for an extension of time within which to complete one or more of the corrective actions speciﬁed in the report, together

with justiﬁcation for the request; or

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(2) If an agency ﬁles a request for an extension of time within which to complete one or more corrective actions required in a report, a review

committee of at least three department of education members shall be appointed by the commissioner to review the request and the oﬀered

justiﬁcation for the extension of time. A decision on the request shall be made by the committee within ﬁve business days of the date the request was

received. The decision of the review committee shall be ﬁnal.

(3) If a local education agency fails to respond to a report within the time allowed, the sanctions listed in paragraph (f) (2) may be invoked.

(f) Appeals.(1) Any agency or complainant may appeal any of the ﬁndings or conclusions of a compliance report prepared by the special education section

of the department by ﬁling a written notice of appeal with the state commissioner of education. Each notice shall be ﬁled within 10 days from the

date of the report. Each notice shall provide a detailed statement of the basis for alleging that the report is incorrect. Upon receiving an appeal, an

appeal committee of at least three department of education members shall be appointed by the commissioner to review the report and to consider

the information provided by the local education agency, the complainant, or others. The appeal process, including any hearing conducted by the

appeal committee, shall be completed within 15 days from the date of receipt of the notice of appeal, and a decision shall be rendered within ﬁve

days after the appeal process is completed unless the appeal committee determines that exceptional circumstances exist with respect to the

particular complaint. In this event, the decision shall be rendered as soon as possible by the appeal committee.

(2) If an appeal committee aﬃrms a compliance report that requires corrective action by an agency, that agency shall initiate the required corrective

action immediately. If, after ﬁve days, no required corrective action has been initiated, the agency shall be notiﬁed of the action that will be taken to

assure compliance as determined by the department. This action may include any of the following:

(A) The issuance of an accreditation deﬁciency advisement;

(B) the withholding of state or federal funds otherwise available to the agency;

(D) any combination of the actions speciﬁed in paragraph (f)(2).

(g) (1) If a complaint is received that is also the subject of a due process hearing or that contains multiple issues of which one or more are part of the due

process hearing, the complaint or the issues that are part of the due process hearing shall be set aside until conclusion of the hearing.

(2) If an issue that has previously been decided in a due process hearing involving the same parties is raised in a complaint, the due process hearing

decision shall be binding on that issue and the complainant informed of this fact.

FORMAL COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

A complaint alleging a violation of special education laws or regulations is received by the Kansas State

Department of Education (KSDE)

A courtesy letter acknowledging receipt is sent to complainant and local education agency (LEA)

Investigation by KSDE.

Interview with the complainant and LEA (may or may not include onsite visit)

Written Report of Findings Within 30 Days, unless exceptional circumstances

Contains corrective actions if a violation is substantiated and timelines for completion, mailed to complainant

and LEA

corrective actions are accepted

and completed by the LEA, then

notice of completion is given to the

LEA and the complainant

no appeal and no

corrective actions

Appealed

Report Complete

Complaint File Closed

Commissioner of Education

ATTN: Special Education & Title Services

• Either party may ﬁle an appeal within 10 days from the

date of the report

• Review completed by 3 KSDE staﬀ within 15 days from

the date the appeal is received

•

Report issued in 5 days

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FORMAL COMPLAINT TIMELINE

Timeline

Responsible

Party

Action

Day Complainant

Mail or personally deliver a written, signed complaint form requesting a formal

complaint investigation to the Formal Complaint Investigator for the Special

Education and Title Services Team of the Kansas State Department of Education

and to the school district. A complaint may be ﬁled electronically only if approved

in advance by KSDE

Day KSDE

Mail letters to the complainant and special education administrator

acknowledging receipt of the complaint. Mail copies of the letters to complainant,

special education administrator, and school district superintendent.

Day KSDE

Contact complainant and special education administrator to clarify issues in

complaint letter, to solicit relevant information and documents, and to schedule a

date and time for the on-site investigation, if necessary.

Day KSDE

Conduct investigation. Review and request copies of student records and IEPs.

Interview complainant. Interview special education administrator and other

school personnel.

Day KSDE

Finalize and mail written report of ﬁndings and corrective action(s) to complainant

and special education administrator. Mail copy of report to school district

superintendent.

Day

(unless

Extension

Granted)

KSDE

Review LEA documentation of implementation of corrective action(s) contained

in written report;

Review LEA request for an extension of time within which to complete corrective

action(s);

Review LEA written notice of appeal of written report.

Day

Complainant

LEA

Within 10 calendar days from the date of the written report– File a notice of

appeal to the State Commissioner of Education ATTN: KSDE Special Education &

Title Services (SETS) team (designee of Commissioner). An appeal is ﬁled on the

day it is received in the SETS oﬃce.

Day

(unless

Extension

Granted)

KSDE

Pursue sanctions if LEA fails to respond to a written report within the time

allowed

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT FORMAL COMPLAINT

1. Who is the contact to file a formal complaint?

Parents, individuals, or organizations who believe that the school district or cooperative has violated federal or state

statutes or regulations relating to special education should contact the Kansas State Department of Education

(KSDE), Special Education and Title Services Team. Complaints must be mailed or personally delivered to the address

below. A complaint may be ﬁled electronically only if approved in advance by KSDE.

Phone: 785-296-5608, or 800-203-9462

Address: Kansas State Dept. of Education, Special Education and Title Services, Landon State Oﬃce Building, 900

SW Jackson, Suite 620, Topeka, KS 66612

Homepage: https://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=326

2. How long does the investigation of a complaint take?

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the complaint must be investigated and a report written with the

ﬁndings of the complaint investigator within 30 calendar days of the date the complaint was received at the KSDE.

Upon completion of a written report, the school or the complainant has 10 calendar days from the date of the report

to accept the decision or ﬁle an appeal. An appeal shall be considered ﬁled on the date the notice of appeal is

received in the KSDE Special Education and Title Services oﬃce.

3. May parents of children in private schools, who are receiving special education services, file a formal

complaint?

Yes. Formal complaint is available to parents (or another individual or organization), even if services provided in a

private school are on a Services Plan, and not an IEP.

4. May parents of children who are gifted file a formal complaint?

Yes. The formal complaint process is available to parents of children who are disabled or gifted. In addition, another

individual or organization may ﬁle a formal complaint.

5. May parents of young children file a formal complaint?

Yes. For young children from birth to age 3, who have a disability, formal complaint is available through the Kansas

Department of Health and Environment, 785-296-6135 or 800-332-6262. For young children who have a disability and

are eligible for special education services beginning at age 3, formal complaint is available to their parents through

KSDE, 785-296-5608, or 800-203-9462. For children who are gifted, the age of eligibility is the age at which the local

school district provides general education services to children who do not have a disability.

6. Who can file a formal complaint?

Anyone who suspects that the proper legal procedures were not followed or implemented may ﬁle a formal

complaint with KSDE. This would include, but is not limited to, parents, parent advocates, the student if age 18,

grandparents, foster parents, an individual, or an organization. In addition, it may be that in unusual circumstances, a

member of the school team could ﬁle a formal complaint.

7. Does filing a formal complaint waive the parents' right to file for a due process hearing?

No. Parents may ﬁle a formal complaint before, at the same time, or after ﬁling for a due process hearing. However, if

the issue is the same, the formal complaint investigation will be suspended until due process is resolved.