Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/2752

 118 STAT. 2722 PUBLIC LAW 108–446—DEC. 3, 2004 ‘‘(I) an employee of the State educational agency or the local educational agency involved in the education or care of the child; or ‘‘(II) a person having a personal or professional interest that conflicts with the person’s objectivity in the hearing; ‘‘(ii) possess knowledge of, and the ability to under stand, the provisions of this title, Federal and State regulations pertaining to this title, and legal interpretations of this title by Federal and State courts; ‘‘(iii) possess the knowledge and ability to conduct hearings in accordance with appropriate, standard legal practice; and ‘‘(iv) possess the knowledge and ability to render and write decisions in accordance with appropriate, standard legal practice. ‘‘(B) SUBJECT MATTER OF HEARING.—The party requesting the due process hearing shall not be allowed to raise issues at the due process hearing that were not raised in the notice filed under subsection (b)(7), unless the other party agrees otherwise. ‘‘(C) TIMELINE FOR REQUESTING HEARING.—A parent or agency shall request an impartial due process hearing within 2 years of the date the parent or agency knew or should have known about the alleged action that forms the basis of the complaint, or, if the State has an explicit time limitation for requesting such a hearing under this part, in such time as the State law allows. ‘‘(D) EXCEPTIONS TO THE TIMELINE.—The timeline described in subparagraph (C) shall not apply to a parent if the parent was prevented from requesting the hearing due to— ‘‘(i) specific misrepresentations by the local edu cational agency that it had resolved the problem forming the basis of the complaint; or ‘‘(ii) the local educational agency’s withholding of information from the parent that was required under this part to be provided to the parent. ‘‘(E) DECISION OF HEARING OFFICER.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause (ii), a decision made by a hearing officer shall be made on substantive grounds based on a determination of whether the child received a free appropriate public education. ‘‘(ii) PROCEDURAL ISSUES.—In matters alleging a procedural violation, a hearing officer may find that a child did not receive a free appropriate public edu cation only if the procedural inadequacies— ‘‘(I) impeded the child’s right to a free appro priate public education; ‘‘(II) significantly impeded the parents’ oppor tunity to participate in the decisionmaking process regarding the provision of a free appropriate public education to the parents’ child; or ‘‘(III) caused a deprivation of educational bene fits. ‘‘(iii) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to preclude a hearing

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