Table of Contents
- Hand-carry unofficial school records because they can support immediate enrollment and placement while official records are in transit.
- The Compact generally allows 30 days after enrollment to obtain immunizations newly required by the receiving district.
- For a same-school-year IEP transfer, 34 C.F.R. § 300.323 requires comparable services while the receiving district completes its process.
- Before a senior withdraws, obtain a written graduation audit and request every waiver or credit-equivalency decision in writing.
- Military OneSource education and special-needs consultants are available 24/7 at 800-342-9647.
Enroll your child before the official records arrive
A PCS can put your child in the wrong class, interrupt special education services, or leave a senior short of graduation requirements that did not exist at the previous school. Prevent those problems before withdrawal. Repairing them after classes begin gives you fewer options.
Build a paper and digital transfer packet, then hand-carry it. Do not place the only copy in household goods.
Your packet should include:
- Latest report card or high school transcript
- Current course schedule
- Course descriptions or syllabi for unusual or disputed classes
- Testing results
- Advanced Placement, honors, gifted, or advanced-program documentation
- Individualized Education Program, evaluations, behavior plan, and related-service records
- Section 504 plan, if applicable
- Immunization record
- Written graduation and credit audit for a high school student
- Samples of completed work when course equivalency may be disputed
Unofficial records can support immediate enrollment and placement while the new school waits for official records. There is no verified uniform national deadline requiring every Compact jurisdiction to transmit official records within the same number of days. Follow up with both schools until the receiving school confirms that the file is complete.
You can manage the financial and duty-station side of the move in the Military Pay and PCS Workspace. Handle school preparation as a separate PCS task with its own deadlines and documents.
The Interstate Compact covers enrollment, placement, eligibility, and graduation
The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, often called MIC3, establishes common rules for enrollment, eligibility, placement, and graduation. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity participate.
The Compact applies to interstate moves, DoDEA-to-U.S.-public-school transfers, and U.S.-public-school-to-DoDEA transfers. It does not apply to private schools or international schools.
The Military OneSource Interstate Compact overview describes the protections available during a military child’s transfer.
| Transfer issue | What the Compact can protect | What it does not guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment | Use of unofficial records for initial enrollment and placement | Identical enrollment procedures in every district |
| Course placement | Placement based on previous enrollment when an equivalent course or program exists | Creation of a course the receiving school does not offer |
| Eligibility | Accommodation of qualifying academic and extracurricular participation issues | Automatic admission when ordinary participation standards are unmet |
| Graduation | Waivers, alternative methods, and coordination with the former school | A diploma when the student has not met either jurisdiction’s substantive requirements |
The Compact creates shared rules, but enforcement remains state-specific. The receiving state may use district contacts, a state Compact commissioner, or another escalation process. Your installation School Liaison can identify the correct route and help you present the issue to the correct office.
Contact both installation School Liaisons as soon as you receive orders
Every installation has a School Liaison Program serving eligible military families with children from pre-K through grade 12. Geographically dispersed families can also request help. “School Liaison Officer” remains a common informal name, although many installations use “School Liaison.”
Use the School Liaison Program directory as soon as you receive PCS orders. Do not wait until the receiving school rejects a credit, assigns the wrong class, or delays services.
Follow this sequence:
- Contact the losing-installation liaison immediately after receiving orders.
- Ask that liaison to connect directly with the gaining-installation liaison.
- Provide your orders or pending-assignment documentation, your child’s grade, current school, courses, expected graduation date, and IEP or Section 504 information.
- Request a records packet and written credit or graduation audit before withdrawal.
- Ask the gaining liaison to confirm the receiving district, attendance boundary, enrollment documents, course availability, and special education contact.
- After enrollment, report denied placement, missing credits, delayed comparable services, or graduation conflicts immediately.
A liaison can compare course catalogs, obtain course descriptions, connect two districts, explain the receiving state’s Compact process, and elevate a dispute. A school counselor may help with scheduling but may not know the Compact. Use the counselor for the student’s schedule and the liaison for transfer protections and cross-district coordination.
Unofficial records should prevent a generic holding placement
The receiving school should use prior enrollment and unofficial records to place your child while official records are in transit. Your child should not be put in a generic holding class solely because the district wants to conduct its own assessment.
If the receiving school offers an equivalent program, it should honor prior participation in programs such as:
- Advanced Placement or honors courses
- Advanced academic or gifted programs
- Required courses already in progress
- Special-needs programs
Prior coursework should also be considered so your child does not repeat basic material unnecessarily. The Compact generally does not force a district to create a class or program it does not offer. If the former school offered a course that the receiving school lacks, ask which available course will preserve academic progress or meet the same graduation requirement.
The Compact also addresses two recurring enrollment problems. If the receiving district requires additional immunizations, your child generally receives 30 days after enrollment to obtain them. A kindergarten or first-grade student may continue the grade already begun in the sending jurisdiction even when the receiving state uses a different age cutoff.
Advance enrollment is a separate issue. Whether you can enroll before arrival—and when you must provide local residency documents—depends on state and district rules. Ask the gaining liaison for the receiving district’s requirements. The Compact does not create one national advance-enrollment process.
Placement does not guarantee that a completed course will count for graduation
Placement determines which class your child enters now. Credit acceptance determines how completed coursework appears on the transcript and applies toward graduation. A school may place your student correctly while classifying an earlier course in a way that creates a graduation problem.
For each questionable high school credit, ask the receiving counselor for a written answer to four points:
- How will the course appear on the receiving transcript?
- Which local graduation requirement will it satisfy?
- If it is considered an elective, why is it not equivalent to a required course?
- What waiver, alternate course, exam, or other method can resolve the deficiency?
Give the counselor the transcript, course description, syllabus, and completed work. Ask your School Liaison to compare the two schools’ catalogs. Do not rely on a verbal promise that the issue will be fixed later.
If the district denies equivalent placement or classifies a credit incorrectly, request the decision and reason in writing. Then ask the liaison for the district and state Compact escalation contacts. A written denial identifies the exact decision you need reviewed; a phone conversation does not.
For a student who needs structured review during the transition, MOS Roadmap’s community study quizzes can supplement school assignments. They do not replace district instruction or special education services.
Get a written graduation audit before a senior-year withdrawal
Senior transfers have the least room for delay. Obtain a written graduation audit from the sending school before withdrawal, even if the current counselor says your student is on track. The audit should let the receiving counselor compare completed credits against the new school’s graduation requirements without reconstructing the record from memory.
The receiving school may waive a local graduation course when your senior completed similar coursework elsewhere. A waiver is not automatic. If the school refuses to apply prior work to a particular requirement, it must provide an alternate way to complete that requirement in time for graduation.
The same principle applies to graduation testing. The receiving district may accept an exit exam or achievement test from the sending state. If it does not, it must offer another method for satisfying the graduation-testing requirement.
Use this order:
- Give the receiving counselor the transcript, graduation audit, course descriptions, and test results immediately.
- Request course-equivalency and waiver decisions in writing.
- Ask for the exact alternate method and completion schedule for every denied waiver.
- If the receiving requirements cannot reasonably be completed, request coordination so the former school can determine whether it can issue the diploma.
- Bring in both installation School Liaisons if the districts are not communicating.
The Compact requires problem solving aimed at on-time graduation. It does not erase failed courses, missing credits, or academic deficiencies that would prevent graduation under both school systems. If neither school’s substantive diploma requirements have been met, the Compact does not guarantee a diploma.
A PCS that overlaps retirement or separation adds another deadline to the transfer. Put school audits and records collection into your 18-month military separation checklist instead of leaving them for final-out processing.
IDEA requires comparable IEP services during a same-school-year transfer
For a child with an IEP, the primary protection is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, not only the Compact. If your child had an IEP in effect, transfers to a new public agency, and enrolls during the same school year, the receiving district must provide a free appropriate public education, including services comparable to those in the existing IEP, in consultation with you.
Comparable means similar or equivalent. It does not guarantee the same teacher, provider, daily schedule, classroom name, or delivery model. It does require the receiving district to address the services in the existing IEP while it completes the transfer process.
The obligations differ by transfer type:
| Transfer | Interim obligation | What ends the interim period |
|---|---|---|
| Same-state transfer | Provide comparable services | District adopts the existing IEP or develops and implements a new compliant IEP |
| Interstate transfer | Provide comparable services | District evaluates if it considers evaluation necessary, then develops and implements a new IEP when appropriate |
| Transfer with unfinished evaluation | Continue prompt evaluation work | Evaluation is completed under applicable requirements or an agreed specific completion date |
The federal IDEA transfer provision in 20 U.S.C. § 1414 requires the receiving public agency to take reasonable steps to obtain the IEP and supporting records promptly. The sending agency must take reasonable steps to respond promptly.
A reevaluation does not authorize a service gap. The new district also cannot restart or delay an unfinished initial evaluation merely because it wants your child to complete its own multitiered system of supports or response-to-intervention process first.
The existing evaluation timeline continues unless the receiving district is making sufficient progress and you agree with the district to a specific completion date. Federal guidance encourages completion within 30 days where possible, but that is not a universal statutory 30-day deadline.
ESY and Section 504 services do not stop because the file is under review
Include Extended School Year documentation in the hand-carried packet. If ESY is part of the former IEP and is necessary for FAPE, the comparable-service obligation can include ESY even when the transfer occurs during summer. Necessary ESY services must be provided at no cost to you.
Do not accept “we are still reviewing the file” as the sole reason for stopping comparable services. Put your request in writing. Identify each service in the existing IEP, then ask the receiving special education office when and how comparable services will begin.
For a Section 504 plan, the receiving district must independently ensure that your child’s disability-related needs are met. It may adopt the existing plan if review shows that it provides FAPE. If further evaluation or revision is needed, the district may implement the current plan while it evaluates and prepares a replacement.
Use the School Liaison and the receiving district’s special education office in parallel. EFMP Family Support can help you find and understand local resources, but EFMP does not replace the school district’s IDEA decision-makers. Military OneSource education and special-needs consultants are also available at 800-342-9647, 24/7.
Put these five transfer failures in writing immediately
Some transfer problems are administrative errors. Others come from a misunderstanding of the Compact or IDEA. Respond in writing when you encounter any of these:
- A holding class pending records or assessment: Provide unofficial records and request placement based on prior enrollment.
- Lost or reclassified high school credit: Request a written equivalency decision and identify the affected graduation requirement.
- Denied senior waiver with no alternative: Ask the school to specify the alternate means and schedule for completing the requirement before graduation.
- Stopped IEP services during reevaluation: Request comparable services under 34 C.F.R. § 300.323 while the district completes its process.
- Restarted evaluation because local MTSS differs: State that MTSS or RTI cannot be used solely to delay an evaluation after parental consent.
Keep a dated log of calls, emails, meetings, documents delivered, and decisions. Ask for every denial in writing. Compact rights are common across participating jurisdictions, but escalation procedures are not identical nationwide. Your log gives the School Liaison, district administrator, or state Compact contact the dates and decisions needed to address the dispute.
Complete the school transfer before your child’s final day
Before withdrawal, obtain unofficial records, an official-record request confirmation, and a written credit or graduation audit. Contact both School Liaisons. For an IEP or Section 504 transfer, send the receiving special education office the plan and service records before arrival when possible.
As soon as enrollment begins, request written placement, credit, waiver, and comparable-service decisions. Fix the first discrepancy immediately. Waiting until spring of senior year—or until an IEP service has been absent for months—removes options you have now.
Questions people actually ask
Does the Interstate Compact apply to every military child school transfer?
No. It covers qualifying interstate transfers, DoDEA-to-U.S.-public-school moves, and U.S.-public-school-to-DoDEA moves. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and DoDEA participate. It does not cover private or international schools. Eligibility and state enforcement procedures can still vary, so ask your installation School Liaison to confirm coverage and identify the receiving state’s escalation process.
Can my child enroll before official school records arrive?
Yes. The receiving public school should use hand-carried unofficial records for initial enrollment and placement while official records are in transit. Bring the latest report card or transcript, current schedule, testing results, program documentation, immunization record, and any IEP or Section 504 plan. There is no verified uniform national deadline requiring every jurisdiction to transmit official records within the same number of days.
Can the new school make my child repeat a course after a PCS?
The school should consider prior coursework and place your child in an equivalent available course or program without unnecessary repetition. The Compact does not require a district to create a class it does not offer. If a high school credit is rejected or treated only as an elective, request the equivalency decision in writing and ask how it affects each graduation requirement.
What happens if a senior cannot meet the new state’s graduation rules?
Request a written waiver or equivalency determination for similar coursework completed at the former school. If the receiving school denies application of that work, it must provide an alternate means to satisfy the requirement in time for graduation. If that cannot reasonably be done, ask the receiving and sending districts to determine whether the former school can issue the diploma.
Does an IEP transfer exactly as written to the new school?
Not necessarily. For a qualifying same-school-year transfer, IDEA requires FAPE and services comparable to those in the existing IEP while the receiving district adopts it or develops a new plan. Comparable means similar or equivalent, not an identical schedule, provider, or delivery model. Reevaluation does not permit the district to leave your child without comparable services during the interim.
When should I contact a School Liaison Officer?
Contact the losing-installation School Liaison immediately after receiving PCS orders, then ask for a direct connection to the gaining-installation liaison. Do this before withdrawing your child. Provide the transcript, current courses, graduation date, IEP or Section 504 information, and desired programs. Return to the liaison immediately if the new school denies placement, loses credits, delays comparable services, or creates a graduation conflict.