Do Charter Schools Have to Follow IEPs: Duties, Discipline, and Remedies

Charter schools have to follow IEPs. Because they receive public funds, charter schools are public schools under both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and they owe every student with a disability the same Free Appropriate Public Education that traditional public schools provide.¹ The IEP is a binding document. What can vary is who delivers the services and who you hold accountable when something goes wrong.

The Legal Basis

IDEA requires every eligible child with a disability to receive FAPE through an Individualized Education Program that spells out the specific instruction, services, and supports the school must provide. Section 504 separately prohibits any school receiving federal funding from discriminating on the basis of disability, and Title II of the ADA covers public entities whether or not they take federal money.²

A charter school’s operational independence from a traditional district does not create an exemption. Students and parents keep every right and protection under IDEA that they would have at any other public school.¹

Who Is Actually on the Hook

This is the part most parents miss. Under federal regulations, a charter school falls into one of three categories depending on state law: a school within a traditional school district, its own independent Local Educational Agency (LEA), or a separate public nonprofit entity.³ Which category applies determines who you push on when the IEP isn’t being followed.

When the charter is part of an existing school district, the district must serve students with disabilities at the charter the same way it serves them at its other schools. If the district sends a speech therapist to its elementary schools twice a week, the charter in its portfolio should get the same access.³

When the charter is its own LEA, the charter school itself carries full responsibility for everything IDEA requires: identifying students who need services, evaluating them, writing and implementing IEPs, providing services in the least restrictive environment, and honoring parents’ procedural rights. If it lacks the staff for a particular service, it must arrange for that service through an outside provider at no cost to parents.³ Federal regulations expressly recognize a public nonprofit charter established as an LEA under state law as a local educational agency for IDEA purposes.⁴

Whatever the structure, the state education agency remains the backstop. Even if a charter or district drops the ball, the state is still responsible for making sure every child with a disability receives FAPE.³

Admission Cannot Turn on the IEP

A charter school cannot deny admission because a student has a disability or an IEP. It also cannot try to talk a family out of enrolling by suggesting the school lacks the resources or that the child would be better served elsewhere. The U.S. Department of Education calls this “counseling out,” and it violates Section 504.¹

During the application process, a charter school generally cannot ask whether an applicant has a disability or receives special education services. A narrow exception applies to schools specifically chartered to serve students with a particular disability; those schools may ask whether the applicant has that disability.¹ Once a student is enrolled, the school can and should ask about their needs so services can start.

Transferring an Existing IEP Mid-Year

If your child already has an IEP and enrolls in a charter school partway through the year, the school cannot wait weeks to start services. Federal law requires the new school to immediately provide FAPE, including services comparable to those in the previous IEP, while the team decides on next steps.⁵

What happens after depends on where the previous school was. If the transfer is within the same state, the charter must either adopt the existing IEP or develop a new one that meets federal and state requirements; comparable services continue until then. If the transfer is from another state, the charter must provide comparable services while it conducts a new evaluation (if it decides one is needed) and develops a new IEP.⁶

The new school must take reasonable steps to promptly obtain records from the previous school, and the previous school must respond promptly.⁵ Don’t rely on records moving automatically. Bring copies of the current IEP, evaluation reports, and related documents when you enroll. The faster the charter has the paperwork, the faster services begin.

How Services Get Delivered When Staff Is Thin

Charter schools often have smaller staffs and may not employ full-time specialists like speech-language pathologists or occupational therapists. That is not a legal problem as long as the school finds another way to deliver what the IEP requires. A charter that is its own LEA and lacks in-house specialists must arrange services through outside providers or contractors at no cost to parents.³

Some charters partner with their local district to share staff or facilities. Others contract with private therapy practices or regional service agencies. The method of delivery is flexible. The substance is not: whatever the IEP says, the school provides, at the frequency and duration the IEP specifies, at no cost to you.¹

Discipline Protections Still Apply

Parents sometimes hear that charter schools operate under their own discipline codes and worry that IDEA’s protections drop away. They do not. The U.S. Department of Education has stated directly that IDEA’s discipline procedures apply to children with disabilities in public charter schools.⁷

School staff can suspend a student with a disability for up to 10 consecutive school days for a code-of-conduct violation, just as they would any student, and additional removals of up to 10 days each are allowed for separate incidents as long as the total doesn’t amount to a change of placement. After a student has been removed for 10 school days in the same year, the school must continue providing educational services during any further removals.⁸

Before any removal that constitutes a change of placement, the school, parents, and relevant IEP team members must review whether the behavior was caused by the child’s disability or was the direct result of the school failing to implement the IEP. If either is true, the behavior is a manifestation of the disability, and the school generally must return the student to their prior placement. If the failure was in implementation, the school must fix it immediately. If the behavior is found to be a manifestation, the IEP team must also conduct a functional behavioral assessment (if one hasn’t already been done) and create or update a behavioral intervention plan.⁸

What to Do When the Charter School Isn’t Following the IEP

Document everything first. Keep a log with dates, the specific services that were missed or delivered incorrectly, and any conversations with school staff. Save emails, meeting notes, and samples of your child’s work. This record is your evidence at every stage that follows.

Then request an IEP team meeting in writing. Put the specific concerns in the letter so there is no ambiguity about what you are raising. Many problems get resolved here because the team can adjust staffing, scheduling, or providers on the spot. If the meeting doesn’t fix things, escalate in writing to the principal, the charter school’s governing board, or the entity that authorized the charter.

When internal channels fail, federal law gives you three formal options:

State complaint. You file a written complaint with your state’s department of education alleging that the school violated IDEA. The state must resolve the complaint within 60 days. Any organization or individual can file, not just parents.⁹
Mediation. Either side can request mediation, where a qualified, impartial mediator helps both sides reach an agreement. Mediation is voluntary, confidential, and paid for by the state. Any agreement reached is legally binding and enforceable in court.¹⁰
Due process hearing. This is the most adversarial option. You file a due process complaint, and an impartial hearing officer conducts a legal proceeding and issues a binding decision. You must file within two years of the date you knew or should have known about the violation. The hearing officer’s decision must be issued within 45 days after a 30-day resolution period expires.⁹

A state complaint and a due process hearing can run at the same time. They address the problem through different channels, and one does not block the other.

Compensatory Education and Attorney Fees

When a charter school fails to provide required IEP services, your child may be entitled to compensatory education to make up for what was lost. Compensatory services remedy the educational harm caused by the school’s failure to deliver evaluations or services the student was legally owed.¹¹ That might mean additional therapy sessions, tutoring hours, or extended services beyond what the IEP originally called for. The specifics depend on the nature and duration of the denial.

If you prevail in a due process hearing or subsequent court action, a court may award reasonable attorney fees.¹² The award is discretionary rather than automatic, and it only goes to parents who qualify as the prevailing party. If a case settles before a final decision, recovering fees becomes significantly harder, and the rules vary across federal court jurisdictions. The possibility of fee-shifting still gives parents real leverage, because a school that loses a hearing can end up paying far more than it would have cost to provide the services in the first place.

1
U.S. Department of Education. Know Your Rights: Students with Disabilities in Charter Schools
2
U.S. Department of Education. Dear Colleague Letter Regarding the Rights of Students with Disabilities in Public Charter Schools
3
U.S. Department of Education. Frequently Asked Questions About the Rights of Students with Disabilities in Public Charter Schools
4
eCFR. 34 CFR 300.28 – Local Educational Agency
5
eCFR. 34 CFR 300.323 – When IEPs Must Be in Effect
6
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 20 USC 1414(d) – Individualized Education Programs
7
U.S. Department of Education. Questions and Answers: Addressing the Needs of Children with Disabilities and IDEA Discipline Provisions
8
eCFR. 34 CFR 300.530 – Authority of School Personnel
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1415 – Procedural Safeguards
10
eCFR. 34 CFR 300.506 – Mediation
11
U.S. Department of Education. Fact Sheet: Providing Students with Disabilities Free Appropriate Public Education
12
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 20 USC 1415(i)(3)(B) – Award of Attorneys Fees