In short
The Department of Education has a unit dedicated to just this: the Secretarial Unit for the Complaints and Provisional Remedy Procedure. It does two things. The first is the centralised complaints system that Act 85-2018 requires it to maintain to handle, in the first instance, all disputes over special education services, and it is available to parents, students and officials. The second is the one almost nobody knows about: the Provisional Remedy, which assures the parent or guardian the alternative of contracting a related service the Department has not been able to provide to the student because of unavailability or lack of agility. To activate it there is a precise condition: the service must be contemplated in the IEP.
What is it?
The Secretarial Unit for the Complaints and Provisional Remedy Procedure, or USPQRP, was created by the Department of Education pursuant to the Court’s order in the class action Rosa Lydia Vélez v. Departamento de Educación, to handle the Administrative Procedure for Special Education Complaints and the Provisional Remedy. Act 85-2018, as amended, further established that the Department, through the USPQRP, will maintain a centralised complaints system to handle in the first instance all disputes arising over special education services. The Department describes its purpose as administering and guaranteeing a fair, swift and effective administrative process, in accordance with the law and the judicial determinations in force.
Who can do it?
The Department states the complaints mechanism is available to parents, students and officials. For the Provisional Remedy, the condition the Department itself sets is that the service be contemplated in the student’s Individualised Education Programme: without that, the mechanism does not activate. The Remedy is aimed at the parent, mother, guardian or carer, and applies when the Department, through the Associate Secretariat for Special Education, has not been able to provide the related service because of unavailability or lack of agility in its coordination or delivery.
Requirements
- For the Provisional Remedy: that the related service be contemplated in the student’s Individualised Education Programme (IEP).Verified against the official source
- For the Provisional Remedy: that the Department, through the Associate Secretariat for Special Education, has not been able to provide that service because of unavailability or lack of agility in coordination or delivery.Verified against the official source
- For the complaint: that the dispute concerns special education services. The USPQRP handles them in the first instance and the mechanism is available to parents, students and officials.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Open the IEP and find the service
Everything starts there. The Provisional Remedy only activates if the related service is contemplated in the Individualised Education Programme. If the therapy, support or evaluation you are waiting for appears in the IEP and is not being delivered, you have exactly the situation the Department describes. If it does not appear, the first errand is the IEP, not the remedy.
Step 2: Document the unavailability or the delay
The Department defines the situation with two causes: that it could not provide the service due to unavailability, or due to lack of agility in coordination or delivery. Note dates: when it was approved in the IEP, when you started asking, who you spoke to and what they answered. That is what turns a grievance into a file.
Step 3: Ask for the Provisional Remedy by name
Ask for it by that name, at the Secretarial Unit for the Complaints and Provisional Remedy Procedure. It is a mechanism distinct from the complaint: it does not seek to have someone resolve a dispute, but to assure you the alternative of contracting the service the Department could not give you. Before contracting anything, confirm with the Unit how it is authorised and how it is reimbursed, because the Department does not publish that on that page.
Step 4: If yours is a dispute, file the complaint
The USPQRP handles in the first instance all disputes arising over special education services, by mandate of Act 85-2018. It is not only for parents: the Department states the mechanism is available to parents, students and officials.
Step 5: Note the address: the Unit has moved
The Department flags it on its own page. The Unit is at the Department of Recreation and Sports, first floor, 1000 Calle Los Ángeles, San Juan, P.R. If you have an old address from an earlier document, that one is out of date.
Where to do it
Before the Department of Education’s Secretarial Unit for the Complaints and Provisional Remedy Procedure, located at the Department of Recreation and Sports, first floor, 1000 Calle Los Ángeles, San Juan, P.R. The Department does not publish a phone number or a filing form on that page, so confirm the route with the Unit or with the Associate Secretariat for Special Education before going.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If the service you are claiming is not in the IEP, the Provisional Remedy does not activate: the prior errand is reviewing and amending the IEP, and if there is a dispute there, that is indeed a complaint. If you are told the provider is unavailable, that is exactly one of the two causes the Department names — unavailability, or lack of agility in coordination or delivery — so say it in those words. Do not contract the service on your own before confirming with the Unit how it is authorised and reimbursed: this guide does not state it because the Department does not publish it on that page, and getting ahead could leave you with the cost. Nor does this guide state the form, the filing deadline, the evidence required or how long the process takes, for the same reason. If your child is in special education and what you want is a private school, the School Free Selection Programme contemplates that case and has its own guide here. PRFácil does not file complaints, does not represent students or families, and gives no legal or clinical advice.
Common mistakes
- Not knowing the Provisional Remedy exists and waiting months for a service that never comes.
- Trying to activate it for a service not contemplated in the IEP.
- Contracting the service yourself without first confirming how it is authorised and reimbursed.
- Taking the dispute to the school or the region when Act 85-2018 centralises complaints in the USPQRP.
- Believing the mechanism is only for parents, when it is also available to students and officials.
- Going to the old address: the Unit moved to the Department of Recreation and Sports.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Provisional Remedy?
It is the mechanism that assures the parent or guardian the alternative of contracting a related service the Department of Education, through the Associate Secretariat for Special Education, has not been able to provide to the student because of unavailability or lack of agility in coordination or delivery. To activate it, the service must be contemplated in the IEP.
Where is a special education complaint filed?
At the Secretarial Unit for the Complaints and Provisional Remedy Procedure. Act 85-2018 established that the Department, through that Unit, will maintain a centralised complaints system to handle in the first instance all disputes over special education services.
Can I contract the therapy and be reimbursed?
The Provisional Remedy is described as the alternative of contracting the service. How it is authorised and how it is reimbursed is not published on the Department’s page, so this guide does not assert it: confirm with the Unit before contracting anything.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico
Educación
de.pr.gov
- Associate Secretariat for Special Education
Departamento de Educación
de.pr.gov
Last verified
August 14, 2026
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