SECTION 89.1151. Special Education Due Process Hearings

(a) A parent or public education agency may initiate a due process hearing as provided in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), §300.507 and §300.508.

(b) The Texas Education Agency will implement a one-tier system of hearings. The proceedings in hearings will be governed by the provisions of 34 CFR, §§300.507-300.515 and 300.532, if applicable, and this division.

(c) Beginning September 1, 2022, a parent or public education agency must request a hearing within two years of the date the parent or public education agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that serves as the basis for the request, unless tolled pursuant to 50 USC, §3936, as set forth in subsection (e) of this section. Prior to September 1, 2022, a parent or public education agency must request a hearing within one year of the date the parent or public education agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that serves as the basis for the request, unless tolled pursuant to 50 USC, §3936, as set forth in subsection (e) of this section.

(d) The timeline described in subsection (c) of this section does not apply to a parent if the parent was prevented from filing a request for a due process hearing due to:

(1) specific misrepresentations by the public education agency that it had resolved the problem forming the basis of the request for a hearing; or

(2) the public education agency's withholding of information from the parent that was required by 34 CFR, §300.1, et seq. to be provided to the parent.

(e) TEA will include in the Notice of Procedural Safeguards a statement that the statute of limitations for the parent of a student to request an impartial due process hearing under 20 USC, §1415(b), may be tolled if:

(1) the parent is an active-duty member of the armed forces, the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service; and

(2) 50 USC, §3936, applies to the parent.

Source Note: The provisions of this §89.1151 adopted to be effective March 6, 2001, 26 TexReg 1837; amended to be effective December 30, 2001, 26 TexReg 10536; amended to be effective November 11, 2007, 32 TexReg 8129; amended to be effective November 28, 2012, 37 TexReg 9360; amended to be effective December 31, 2013, 38 TexReg 9552; amended to be effective March 1, 2017, 42 TexReg 760; amended to be effective February 15, 2018, 43 TexReg 766; amended to be effective June 7, 2022, 47 TexReg 3248