Due Process Hearing. If agreement has not been reached at the PHC, a due process hearing should be requested. The purpose of a hearing is usually to determine whether the program or placement proposed by the district is or is not appropriate for the child. Hearings can also be held on whether it is necessary to evaluate a child or whether the child has been properly classified. Although the due process hearing is more formal than a pre-hearing conference, it is not a court proceeding. The district usually presents its case first; then the parents have their turn. It is important to remember that the burden is on the parents to show why the district's proposal is not appropriate for the child; it is not enough to show that the parents' proposal is better. Hearing officers are appointed by the State Department of Education which attempts to assign a hearing officer who has some familiarity with the type of exceptionality. Most hearing officers are educators, either employed by other school districts or IU's, or by colleges or universities.