Stay-put is a protection that keeps a child in their current educational placement while a formal dispute is being resolved. Once you file for a due process hearing, the school generally cannot move your child to a new placement or cut the services in the current IEP until the disagreement is settled. In plain terms, the situation freezes so a child is not disrupted mid-fight.
This rule exists to protect children from being pushed into a new setting before a parent has a fair chance to challenge it. Without stay-put, a school could change a placement and let the slow dispute process catch up later, after the harm is done. With it, the last agreed-upon plan stays in force, and that stability is exactly the point.
Stay-put has limits worth knowing. It applies once a formal proceeding is underway, and there are special rules in discipline cases — for example, when a child is placed in an interim setting for certain serious offenses. If you are heading toward a dispute, ask an advocate how stay-put applies to your situation, because knowing your child cannot be moved out from under you can steady the whole process.
General information and document preparation — not legal advice.