FAQs: Consensus

What happens at an IEP meeting if the parties cannot reach consensus?

“The IEP Team meeting serves as a communication vehicle between parents and school personnel and enables them, as equal participants, to make joint informed decisions regarding the services that are necessary to meet the unique needs of the child. The IEP team should work towards a general agreement, but the public agency is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the IEP includes the services that the child needs in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). It is not appropriate to make IEP decisions based on majority “vote.” If the team cannot reach agreement, the public agency must determine the appropriate services and provide the parents with prior written notice of the agency’s determinations regarding the child’s education program and of the parents’ right to seek resolution of any disagreements by initiating an impartial due process hearing or filing a State complaint.” [Letter to Richards, 55 IDELR 107 (OSEP 2010)]

Can parents block an IEP they disagree with?

No. There is nothing in the regulations that implement the IDEA to suggest that parents can block or overturn an IEP they disagree with. However, this does not mean that parents are without an option when a disagreement on the IEP team arises. If parents disagree with any IEP team decision, their recourse is to request mediation or to file a due process complaint against the school district or charter school. The IDEA provides these procedural safeguards as a means for resolving disputes between parents and schools concerning the identification, evaluation, placement, or the provision of a FAPE. [34 C.F.R. §§ 300.506(a) and 300.507(a) respectively]

To avoid conflict, should the school implement the parents’ suggestions if the parents and school personnel cannot reach consensus at an IEP meeting?

Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing, and sometimes conflict is unavoidable. Although the spirit of the IDEA is that the parties, as equal participants, will arrive at consensus, sometimes this is not possible. Although parental suggestions should be encouraged and considered, the school is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the IEP includes the services that the child needs in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). [Letter to Richards, 55 IDELR 107 (OSEP 2010)] “If the [IEP] team cannot reach agreement, the public agency must determine the appropriate services and provide the parents with prior written notice of the agency’s determinations regarding the child’s education program and of the parents’ right to seek resolution of any disagreements by initiating an impartial due process hearing or filing a State complaint.” [Letter to Richards, 55 IDELR 107 (OSEP 2010)]