This page is general information drawn from official Georgia sources. It isn’t legal advice. For a decision about your own child, talk with your school district, a Georgia Parent Mentor, Parent to Parent of Georgia or an attorney.
1. Special education law in Georgia: the rulebook
Special education in Georgia runs on two layers of rules: the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Georgia State Board of Education’s special education rules, Chapter 160-4-7 of the Georgia Administrative Code. The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) posts copies of each rule, and its special education pages link the parent documents. GaDOE now calls its special education division the “Division for Exceptional Children.” When we checked on October 2, 2026, no Chapter 160-4-7 rule was out for public comment.
The rules a parent meets most often:
- Rule 160-4-7-.03: Child Find, the district’s duty to find and evaluate children who may have disabilities.
- Rule 160-4-7-.04: evaluations and reevaluations, including the 60-day timeline.
- Rule 160-4-7-.05: eligibility and Georgia’s 12 eligibility categories.
- Rule 160-4-7-.06: the IEP, including the 30-day meeting timeline and annual review.
- Rule 160-4-7-.09: procedural safeguards, including the parent rights notice.
- Rule 160-4-7-.12: dispute resolution.
- Rule 160-4-7-.13: children placed in private schools by their parents, which in Georgia includes home-schooled children.
2. How to get an IEP in Georgia, step by step
- Raise your concern and ask for an evaluation. Georgia’s Child Find rule requires each district (the rules say “LEA,” for local educational agency) to have policies so that “all suspected children with disabilities, including those who are homeless, are wards of the State or are attending private schools,” are identified, located and evaluated. The rule also covers “Children who reside in the LEA and are enrolled in home school/study programs.” Putting your request in writing gives you a dated record.
- Give consent. The evaluation clock starts when the school receives your consent.
- The evaluation. It “must be completed within 60 calendar days of receiving parental consent for evaluation.” Breaks when children are out of school for five consecutive school days don’t count toward the 60 days, and summer vacation isn’t included. But “Consent received 30 days or more prior to the end of the school year must be completed within the 60 calendar day evaluation timeframe.”
- The eligibility decision. The team decides whether your child has a disability in one of Georgia’s categories (section 3) and needs special education and related services.
- The IEP meeting. “A meeting to develop an IEP for a child is conducted within 30 days of a determination that the child needs special education and related services.”
- Annual review. The IEP team “Reviews the child’s IEP periodically, but not less than annually.”
- Reevaluation. At least once every three years, unless you and the district agree it’s unnecessary, and not more than once a year unless you both agree.
| Step | Georgia timeline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Initial evaluation | Within 60 calendar days of consent (breaks of five or more school days and summer vacation not counted, with the end-of-year exception above) | 160-4-7-.04 |
| IEP after eligibility | Meeting within 30 days of the determination | 160-4-7-.06(13)(a) |
| IEP review | At least once a year | 160-4-7-.06(19)(a) |
| Reevaluation | At least every 3 years; not more than once a year unless both agree | 160-4-7-.04(3) |
Source: Georgia State Board of Education Rules 160-4-7-.04 and 160-4-7-.06 (GaDOE copies).
3. Who qualifies: Georgia’s eligibility categories
Rule 160-4-7-.05 lists 12 eligibility categories:
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Deafblind
- Deaf/hard of hearing
- Emotional and behavioral disorder
- Intellectual disability (mild, moderate, severe, profound)
- Orthopedic impairment
- Other health impairment
- Significant developmental delay (ages 3 through 9; initial eligibility on or before the child’s 7th birthday)
- Specific learning disability
- Speech-language impairment
- Traumatic brain injury
- Visual impairment
Meeting a category isn’t the whole test. The team also decides whether your child needs special education and related services, and the 30-day IEP timeline starts from that determination.
Dyslexia
Georgia’s rule defines specific learning disability to include “such conditions as … dyslexia.” But a dyslexia diagnosis doesn’t make a child eligible by itself. GaDOE’s Dyslexia Informational Handbook (July 1, 2026) says an outside diagnosis “does not mean the school district must automatically identify the student as a student with a disability,” and when special education is needed, “dyslexia is categorized as a Specific Learning Disability (SLD).”
Georgia’s dyslexia law is now the Georgia Early Literacy and Dyslexia Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-153.1), from HB 307 (2025); HB 1193 (2026) adopted the International Dyslexia Association’s definition of dyslexia. GaDOE’s literacy policy guide (July 2026) says, “Georgia law requires universal reading screening three times each year for all students in kindergarten through third grade.”
If your child doesn’t qualify
Ask the school whether a 504 plan (a school plan for accommodations under Section 504, a federal disability law) is an option. If you disagree with the team’s decision, section 5 lists Georgia’s dispute options.
4. Your rights as a parent: Georgia’s parent rights notice
GaDOE’s official notice of parents’ rights is “Your Rights as Parents – Regarding Special Education”, updated May 21, 2025, and linked from GaDOE’s special education page. This is the Georgia special education parent rights PDF most people are looking for. Rule 160-4-7-.09 calls it the procedural safeguards notice. Schools give it to parents once each school year and at other times the rule lists, and you can read it online at any time. It’s worth reading before your first eligibility or IEP meeting.
One rule surprises many families. If your child is home-schooled or placed in a private school by you at your own expense, and you don’t give consent for an evaluation, the district “may not use the consent override procedures, and the LEA is not required to consider the child as eligible for services” (Rule 160-4-7-.04; Parents’ Rights notice).
5. When you disagree: Georgia’s dispute options
Disagreements happen. Rule 160-4-7-.12 and GaDOE’s dispute resolution page describe these options, from the most collaborative to the most formal:
| Option | What it is | Timing and cost |
|---|---|---|
| Facilitated IEP meeting | An IEP meeting with a facilitator. GaDOE calls it “an optional process, not required by the IDEA.” | The request must reach GaDOE “at least 7-10 days before” the meeting; “a facilitator will be provided at no cost to the parent or district” |
| Mediation | A voluntary process; if you reach agreement, the parties sign a “legally binding” agreement | “The State shall bear the cost of the mediation process.” |
| State complaint | Asks GaDOE to review and investigate whether special education rules were violated | The violation must have occurred “not more than one year prior” to the date GaDOE receives the complaint; GaDOE acts “within 60 calendar days of its receipt” |
| Due process hearing | A formal hearing. GaDOE says, “Due process hearings are conducted by the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH)”; the rule itself says an administrative law judge or hearing officer | Request “within two years of the date the parent or agency knew or should have known” about the problem |
GaDOE’s state complaint form and the instructions for each option are linked from its dispute resolution page. Your parent rights notice (section 4) explains mediation, state complaints and due process hearings in more detail.
6. Home-schooled and private-school children
Georgia’s rules treat these children differently from public-school students:
- Finding and evaluating: Child Find covers children “attending private schools” and “Children who reside in the LEA and are enrolled in home school/study programs.” For a home-schooled child, ask the special education office of the district you live in; for a private-school student, ask the district where the private school is located (Rule 160-4-7-.13).
- Home-schooled children count as privately placed: “Children who are home schooled within the jurisdiction of the LEA are also considered parentally-placed private school students for the purposes of this Rule” (Rule 160-4-7-.13).
- No individual right to services: “No parentally-placed private school child with a disability has an individual right to receive some or all of the special education and related services that the child would receive if enrolled in a public school.” Any services the district provides come through a services plan.
If you’re thinking about homeschooling a child with an IEP, our guide to Georgia Promise for homeschool families covers Georgia’s homeschool basics alongside the scholarship.
7. How Georgia’s scholarships affect an IEP: Promise and GSNS
Two Georgia scholarships come up often for families of children with IEPs. They work very differently, so read the law’s wording before you apply.
Georgia Promise Scholarship
The Georgia Promise Scholarship is a general education savings account (ESA) program run by the Georgia Education Savings Authority (GESA). It has no disability tier and no extra amount for students with IEPs. Its only special-education rule is age: eligibility can last until age 21 for special-education students, instead of 20.
Promise students can’t be enrolled in a public school, even part-time; the only exception is an approved college and career academy. Families also confirm before spending each quarter that their child is not in public school (the Quarterly Opt-In). On services, the law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(e)) says:
“The creation of the program or the granting of an account pursuant to this article shall not be construed to imply that a public school did not provide a free and appropriate public education for a participating student or constitute a waiver or admission by the state. A participating student’s resident school system shall not be obligated to provide services to such student that would be required if such student were enrolled in such school system unless the student reenrolls in the resident school system.”
We haven’t found a Georgia source that says exactly how Rule 160-4-7-.13 applies to a Promise student. Before you accept, ask your district, a Georgia Parent Mentor or Parent to Parent of Georgia about your child. Our guide to Georgia Promise and your child’s IEP goes further.
Court status: In August 2026, families filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court (Sands v. Green) challenging the rule that students must first attend public school, according to the families’ lawyers and news reports. As of October 2, 2026, we have found no report of a ruling, and the program is operating for the 2026-27 school year. More on the court case.
Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (GSNS)
The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship is for students with an IEP or, since SB 47 (2021), a Section 504 plan for one of the listed conditions, who, with some exceptions, spent the prior school year in a Georgia public school or received preschool special education. The money goes to a participating private school with a physical location in Georgia, and home-school students are not eligible (Rule 160-5-1-.34). The law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2114(f)) says acceptance of a scholarship “shall have the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” and a parental waiver of rights to accommodations under Section 504. A Promise student can’t receive GSNS at the same time. Our Georgia scholarships compared guide sets the programs side by side.
8. Help for parents: Georgia Parent Mentors and Parent to Parent of Georgia
If you want help understanding the IEP process, start with these two sources:
- The Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership. GaDOE describes it as “a collaboration of parents and professionals working together to improve outcomes for students with disabilities.” GaDOE publishes a directory of parent mentors by county.
- Parent to Parent of Georgia. It describes itself as Georgia’s Parent Training and Information Center (PTI), and it is listed in the federal Center for Parent Information and Resources directory.
If you decide to hire a private advocate or an attorney, ask about their experience with Georgia’s rules and their fees before you begin. For ongoing help preparing for IEP meetings, Special Ed Resource’s IEP Momentum membership is described at the end of this page.
9. Where tutoring fits alongside an IEP
Tutoring can give your child more one-to-one practice on the academic skills an IEP targets. Our teachers are certified in special education and work with children one-to-one online. You decide what to share. If you choose to send the academic goals from the IEP, such as reading fluency, written expression or math problem-solving, the teacher plans sessions around them. What you see in sessions can help you prepare for the next IEP meeting.
Our work is academic only. We don’t provide therapy, speech services, occupational therapy, ABA, evaluations or diagnosis, and tutoring doesn’t replace the services a district provides. See our tutoring for reading and dyslexia, math, ADHD and executive function and autistic learners. Special Ed Resource is an approved provider in the Georgia Promise Scholarship Odyssey Marketplace, so families can pay for academic tutoring with Promise funds or privately. We are not GESA, Odyssey or the State of Georgia.
Sources
- Georgia State Board of Education Rules (GaDOE copies): 160-4-7-.03, .04, .05, .06, .09, .12 and .13
- GaDOE: Your Rights as Parents – Regarding Special Education (updated May 21, 2025)
- GaDOE: Dispute resolution, facilitated IEP, due process hearings and the state complaint form
- GaDOE: Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership and mentors by county
- Parent to Parent of Georgia
- GaDOE Dyslexia Informational Handbook (July 1, 2026), GaDOE literacy policy guide (July 2026) and HB 307 (2025)
- SB 233 (2024), the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22)
- SB 47 (2021) and Rule 160-5-1-.34 (Georgia Special Needs Scholarship)
Official sources checked October 2, 2026.