Conciliation Conference Legislation - Minnesota

Requirements include:

• Parents who object to a proposal in a Prior Written Notice have 14 calendar days from the date of receipt to notify the district in writing.
• The district must hold the conciliation conference within 10 calendar days of receiving a parent’s objection and at a time and place mutually convenient to the parent and school district representatives.
• A conciliation conference must not be used to unilaterally delay or deny a parent's right to a hearing.
• Statements made during a conciliation conference must remain confidential and may not be admitted in evidence in a due process hearing, except to allow a party to establish at a due process hearing that a particular service or action was requested or offered.
• Within five school days after the final conciliation conference, the district must provide the parent with a written memorandum and must provide the parent with any proposed IEP resulting from the conciliation conference. The memorandum and IEP are admissible evidence in a due process hearing.
• If the proposed action is an initial evaluation, initial placement, or the initial provision of special education, the district must not proceed until the parents give written informed consent. For all other proposed actions, the district must proceed 14 calendar days after the memorandum is provided to the parents, unless the parent objects in writing to the proposed action within that time period.
• If the parent refuses efforts by the district to conciliate the dispute and notifies the district of the intent to go to an impartial due process hearing, the district must inform the parent of the procedure for requesting the hearing and all other procedural safeguards pursuant to part 3525.3900, subpart 3, item J, and Code of Federal Regulations, title 34, section 300.504.

The state legislation related to the conciliation conference requirement can be found here.