Richmond County Public Schools staff run the IEP meetings in Augusta. These advocates sit on your side of the table.
5 based in Georgia · 3 virtual advocates who work with Georgia schools
An IEP advocate goes to school meetings with you and argues for services your child is not getting.
Most of the work happens before anyone sits down in an Augusta conference room.
Before the meeting an advocate reads the current IEP against the evaluation reports, pulls the progress data to see whether the goals are actually being met, writes your concerns into one page, and sends it to the team in advance.
Richmond County Public Schools keeps progress data on every goal in the plan. Ask for it as a table of dates and numbers rather than a paragraph.
No advocate in this directory lists Augusta as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Georgia, and each card names the city.
Based in Flowery Branch, GA
Special education advocate/ IEP consultant
I am a certified special education teacher and a behavior specialist. Additionally, I am a mother to a child with behavioral issues who has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), as well as…
Based in Buford, GA
Georgia Special Education & IEP Advocate
Dr. Mary Jo Ray-Jewett is the owner and lead advocate of The IEP Guru, LLC, providing special education advocacy throughout Georgia.
Based in Atlanta, GA
Special Education Advocate
My name is Jalani Traxler and I have loved teaching sense I myself was a student with an IEP receiving my own accommodations in elementary school.
These advocates are not based in Georgia. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in Bloomington, IL · works with Georgia schools
Founder & Advocate
Jade is a former special education teacher who has taught everything from pre-k all the way to transition classrooms with students up to age 21.
Virtual · based in Philadelphia, PA · works with Georgia schools
Educational Consultant
I began this journey because my own daughter was issued an IEP in 3rd grade. I didn't understand special education.
Virtual · based in Wesley Chapel, FL · works with Georgia schools
Special Education Advocate
With 24 years of experience in the K-12 sector, I serves as a Student Support Specialist specializing in academic and behavioral ESE services.
40 public schools inside Augusta belong to Richmond County Public Schools. Each one has its own case manager and its own backlog, and the answer you get about scheduling depends on which building your child attends.
District lines and city lines are not the same thing. A street can sit inside one city and be zoned to the district next door.
Confirm your child's district by address before you send a letter or name a district-specific process.
Federal law lets a state write its own evaluation deadline instead of using the national one. What Georgia actually requires is 60 calendar days.
Ask the Augusta team for the evaluation report before the meeting, not at it, because nobody reads a long report accurately while the rest of the team waits.
Georgia gives a school district 60 calendar days to finish an initial special education evaluation. No Georgia rule sets a separate deadline for answering a written request, so the federal reasonable-time standard is what applies. Missed deadlines are handled by the Georgia Department of Education, Division for Exceptional Children, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Certification programs exist and some advocates hold them. None of them is issued by the Georgia Department of Education, Division for Exceptional Children, and none of them is required to sit in a Georgia IEP meeting.
A certificate says nothing about Richmond County Public Schools. Ask instead what the advocate has filed there and what came back.
An advocate cannot make the district agree. What moves a district is the record you build, not the person sitting next to you, and a good advocate spends more hours on the record than in the room.
Richmond County Public Schools answers to the parent on the paperwork, so an advocate can draft the letter and you still have to be the one who sends it.
Video is normal now. 27 of the advocates listed for Augusta work with families by phone or video instead of driving to the school.
Read a profile for what the advocate actually did, not for what the profile claims. Case detail is the tell.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Augusta, Georgia, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What is the hourly rate for a parent advocate?
Flat fees are common for a single meeting and hourly billing is common for everything else. Many advocates give a free first call. Nobody bills you through this site, so ask each person how they invoice.
Does Richmond County Public Schools cover every Augusta address?
Most of the city sits inside Richmond County Public Schools. The district writes the plan and holds the special education budget, which is why a complaint about a missed service names the district and not the school.
How long can a school take to test my child?
The deadline in Georgia for finishing an initial evaluation is 60 calendar days. Put that date on your calendar the day you sign consent, because the district counts from the paperwork and not from the conversation.
Can an advocate help with a 504 plan and not an IEP?
Nearly every advocate on this page takes both. Compare profiles for experience with accommodations, 504 meetings and school compliance, and ask the school in writing before you bring anyone to a 504 meeting.
What should I have ready before the first call with an advocate?
Bring the current IEP or 504 plan, the most recent evaluation report, the last two progress reports and any email where the school said no. An advocate who has those before the call can tell you what is missing in ten minutes.
Official Georgia links for parents in Augusta.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Georgia rules apply in Columbus, Macon, Atlanta, Savannah and the other cities listed here, or see every Georgia advocate.
Start with two calls, not six. Ask each advocate what they would do first with an Augusta file, and hire the one whose answer is specific enough that you could write it down as a task.
Say the name of your school and Richmond County Public Schools in the first message. That is enough for an advocate to know whether they can take the case.
