Ask your special education procedures manual a plain question and get a cited answer, with the deadline as a date
A cited answer in seconds, with the strictest rule named, instead of a callback.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Special Education Procedures & Regulations Search answers IEP team questions from the IDEA regulations, the state's special education regulations and the district's special education procedures manual, with citations, for district staff. Agents remove student names, quote the governing sentence in each layer, name the one to follow and give the deadline as a date on the district calendar. Questions with no clear answer go to the compliance coordinator, and answers to families come in their language beside the English.
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Every district keeps a special education procedures manual, and every timeline in it sits on two more rulebooks: the federal IDEA regulations (34 CFR Part 300) and Section 504 (34 CFR Part 104), with about 400 federal guidance letters around them, and the state's own special education regulations, which change most years. The manual is often stricter than both, and often out of date. At Marlow Bay Unified the manual runs 310 pages and was last edited on August 4, 2025; the state renumbered its rules on July 1, 2024 and shortened the initial evaluation timeline on June 1, 2026. Fourteen manual passages cite a state rule that has since moved or changed.
So when a principal needs to know, today, how long the district has to hold a manifestation determination review, the answer is a call to the central office. At about 2,000 questions a month from 1,100 staff, the compliance coordinator cannot answer them all, so staff wait a day or guess, and a missed timeline is the kind of procedural error state complaints are made of. The coordinator answers the same hard question in email again and again, and the answer is never approved by counsel. Parent liaisons translate answers by hand, so a Spanish-speaking parent hears last. And student names typed into email and chat leave records nobody meant to keep.
Estimated split, in hours, for one procedural timeline question answered by hand and with the solution. By hand, most of the time is the wait for a callback.
Seven agents strip names, stack federal, state and district rules, name the one to follow and date it; the coordinator and counsel answer the rest.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at Marlow Bay Unified School District. A student with an IEP is suspended for a tenth day this school year, and the principal needs the deadline before her next meeting. The answer comes from three layers of rules, counted on the district's calendar, and on the way it finds that the special education procedures manual cites a rule that has moved.
Renata types her question into the one box on the home screen: a 7th grader with an IEP was suspended today for a tenth day this school year, so how long does the district have to hold the manifestation determination review? Under the box, a line shows when each source was last updated: federal current through October 16, the state amended June 1, the manual at version 2025.2.
“I need the date, not a chapter to read.”
Before the question is logged or passed to any other agent, the Privacy agent removes the student's name. The question is kept as “[student name removed] (7th grade, IEP) was suspended today for a tenth day this school year.” A chip on the answer says one student name was removed before logging.
The Retrieval agent finds the governing sentence in each layer. Federal, 34 CFR 300.530(e)(1): 10 school days. State Rule 5-207(b): 10 school days. The district manual, §7.4, p. 42: 7 school days. The Strictness agent marks the manual “Follow this · stricter”, because a district may be stricter here. Confidence is 0.96, above the district's 0.85 threshold, so the answer is shown without the coordinator.
“Hold the manifestation determination review within 7 school days: by Friday, October 30, 2026.”
The Calendar agent counts school days on the 2026–27 calendar from the student information system. Friday, October 23 is a staff development day with no school, so it is skipped: day 7 is Friday, October 30, and the federal and state deadline is Wednesday, November 4. Under the ruler, what is also due: notify the parents and give them the procedural safeguards notice today (34 CFR 300.530(h)), and services continue from the 11th day of removal.
Renata clicks the manual citation. Page 42 of the 2025–26 procedures manual opens with §7.4.1 highlighted: the case manager schedules the review to be held within seven school days. The page shows its version, 2025.2 of August 4, 2025, approved by Dr. Elaine Kessler, and a notice that it cites a state rule that has since been renumbered.
The state layer opens at Rule 5-207(b): the review shall be held within ten school days of the decision to change the student's placement. The version history shows why the manual is wrong: the rule was 4-310(c) until the state's July 1, 2024 renumbering, and the June 1, 2026 amendment changed the initial evaluation timeline.
The Currency agent saw that §7.4 still cites State Rule 4-310(c), so it filed correction C-0117 to the coordinator: “(see State Rule 4-310(c))” struck through, “(see State Rule 5-207(b))” inserted. It is one of 14 open corrections; 10 more citation-only renumberings from the same amendment can be checked in one step.
The Currency agent never edits the manual itself. It files a redline for a person.
Gwen checks the redline. Dr. Elaine Kessler, Executive Director of Special Education, publishes it as errata E-10 to manual version 2025.2. Neither can do the other's step, and both are recorded. Open corrections fall to 13, and answers now cite the new text.
Kendra Mills, assistant principal at Seacliff High School, asks whether a student with a Section 504 plan only, at nine days of removal, is owed a manifestation review, and whether the in-school suspension room counts. The manual and the state rules are silent, so Q-18377 goes to Gwen's queue with why it was routed, the passages found and a 2-school-day clock. Two questions past the clock are already escalated to Dr. Kessler.
Gwen drafts district interpretation DI-2026-039, citing 34 CFR 104.35(a), 34 CFR 300.536(a), the IDEA analysis of comments and Manual §7.4, effective October 21, 2026 and due for review by October 21, 2027. Philip approves it with reason DI-A2, and it becomes a fourth, cited layer in every later answer. Gwen, the drafter, cannot approve it.
DI-A2: “Approve · stricter than required, a district choice.”
One district's rules, seen by the five people who ask, answer, approve and explain them.
Seven agents strip names, stack federal, state and district rules, name the one to follow and date it; the coordinator and counsel answer the rest.
Removes student names and identifiers from a question before it is logged or passed to any other agent.
Finds the governing sentence in the federal regulations, the federal guidance letters, the state rules, the procedures manual and the district interpretations.
Compares the layers and names the one to follow. Knows when a district may be stricter, and when federal law hands the rule to the state.
Turns school days and calendar days into a date on the district's 2026–27 calendar, from the student information system.
Checks every citation in the manual against the latest state amendment and federal changes, and files a redline correction.
Sends a question with no clear answer to the coordinator, with why, the passages found and a 2-school-day clock.
Drafts the answer for a family in their language, beside the English, at a sixth-grade reading level, with every citation kept.
Answers once; counsel approves it for everyone. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Staff type a question in plain words. Every answer gives the date, names the layer to follow and quotes the sentence behind it.
A student with an IEP was suspended today for a tenth day this school year. How long do we have to hold the manifestation determination review?
Hold the manifestation determination review within 7 school days: by Friday, October 30, 2026. Your district's procedures manual is stricter than federal and state law here, and a district may be stricter, so the manual is the rule to follow.
A parent signed consent for an initial evaluation today. When does the evaluation have to be finished?
Finish the initial evaluation within 45 calendar days of consent: by Friday, December 4, 2026. Here the state sets the timeframe, and federal law says the state's timeframe replaces the federal 60 days. The manual still says 60 and is being corrected.
The IEP team refused a parent's request for extended school year at today's meeting. When must we send prior written notice?
Send prior written notice within 5 school days: by Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Federal law requires the notice; the state allows ten school days; your manual says five, which is stricter, so it is the rule to follow.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Approvals, clocks, privacy and the confidence threshold are settings, each with its effect shown. Two-person approvals and name removal are locked on.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence threshold | 0.85 | 0.75 to 0.95 · preview: 8% of questions routed at 0.85, 13% at 0.90 |
| Clock for routed questions | 2 school days | 1 school day · 2 school days · 3 school days |
| Escalate late questions to | Dr. Elaine Kessler, Executive Director | Dr. Elaine Kessler, Executive Director · Samuel Ito, assistant coordinator |
| Remove student names before logging | On | Always on; cannot be turned off |
| Keep the question log | 3 years after the school year | 1 year · 3 years · 5 years after the school year, then deleted unless a legal hold applies |
| Who can read the question log | Coordinator, director and auditor | Coordinator, director and auditor · Coordinator and director only |
| Second check on family answers that state a right or a timeline | On | On · Off |
| Reading level for family answers | Grade 6 | Grade 6 · Grade 8 |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample district data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (US Department of Education, IDEA Section 618 data, on written state complaints in school year 2023–24 and students ages 3–21 served under IDEA Part B in the 2024 count; 34 CFR Parts 300, 104 and 99 on discipline, evaluation timelines, Section 504 and student privacy). The state rules shown are placeholders, so no real state is implied. People, schools and the district named on this page are fictional: characters and sample data in the working solution.
Special Education Procedures & Regulations Search answers IEP team questions from the IDEA regulations, the state's special education regulations and the district's special education procedures manual, with citations, for district staff. Agents remove student names, quote the governing sentence in each layer, name the one to follow and give the deadline as a date on the district calendar. Questions with no clear answer go to the compliance coordinator, and answers to families come in their language beside the English.
Under the IDEA regulations, when a student with an IEP has been removed for more than 10 school days in a school year, services must continue, and when removals change the student's placement, the review is held within 10 school days of that decision (34 CFR 300.530). A district's own procedures manual may be stricter. In the demo district, the manual says 7 school days, so the answer names the manual as the rule to follow and counts the days on the school calendar.
The Strictness agent compares the federal, state and district sentences. Where a district may be stricter, as with manifestation review timelines, the strictest layer is marked “Follow this”. Where federal law hands the rule to the state, as with the initial evaluation timeline in 34 CFR 300.301(c), the state's timeframe governs even if it is longer or shorter. It never merges two rules into one.
The Currency agent checks every citation in the manual against the latest state amendment and federal changes, and files a redline correction to the coordinator. The coordinator checks it and the director publishes it; the agent never edits the manual. Until a substantive correction is published, answers follow the current rule and say so.
Below the district's confidence threshold, or when the layers disagree, the question goes to the special education compliance coordinator with why it was routed, the passages found and a 2-school-day clock. The coordinator's answer becomes a district interpretation only after district counsel approves it, and then it is cited in every later answer.
Yes. The Privacy agent removes student names and identifiers before a question is logged or passed to any other agent, and that setting cannot be turned off. Retention of the question log is a setting, and monitoring packs are exported with names removed by default.
Yes. The agents find, compare and date the rules; they never decide for the district. Counsel approves interpretations, the director publishes manual corrections, a second person checks every family answer that states a right or a timeline, and nobody approves their own work. Every step is in the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents: your procedures manual, your state's rules, your forms and your school calendar. It goes live once every quality gate has passed.
Every draft IEP read against the rule before the meeting, not a sample after it.
1-min demoSpecial Education Due Process & State ComplaintsChronologies in hours, not weeks, with every allegation tied to the page that proves it.
1-min demoSection 504 Plan ManagementEvery teacher sees the plan, and every test is checked before it starts.
1-min demoWe'll run Special Education Procedures & Regulations Search on your own procedures manual, your state's rules and your school calendar.