Oregon school district asks U.S. Supreme Court to look at special ed reimbursement case

From the intro to the story in The Oregonian:

The Forest Grove School District is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to settle a dispute over a federal law that forces districts to reimburse parents whose children attend specialized private schools.

Just last year, the nation's highest court deadlocked over the same law in a case out of New York, so Forest Grove officials are hoping their case will give justices a second shot at clarifying the law, especially with reimbursement cases on the rise nationally.

(Read the district's petition to the Supreme Court.)

"We believe that this is a precedent-setting court case," said Superintendent Jack Musser, whose district filed its plea with the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month. "We are proceeding with this not only for the Forest Grove district but the state and the rest of the nation."

The district has waged a five-year battle over having to reimburse the parents of a student diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

At issue is a simple principle: If your child has attention deficit or another type of learning disorder, your local school still must provide her a "free and appropriate" education. If the school isn't equipped for your child, you can enroll her in another school, even a private school, and be reimbursed by your local school district.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides for reimbursement when public schools can't provide proper services. But it has been applied differently throughout the country, often because courts have interpreted it differently. Even federal appellate courts have ruled inconsistently.

For example, do you have to enroll your child in the local school even if it doesn't have programs for her? Couldn't you just enroll her in a better-equipped private school and still be reimbursed? One court says yes, another no. This is the question that split the high court last year.

Or what if the local school district doesn't think your child has a learning disability? Can you still be reimbursed if you take him to another school? And if so, do you have to tell the district what you're doing, or have the school determine the child's special needs first?

That's the question facing the Forest Grove School District in its case. Initially, the district said the boy didn't have a learning disability and wasn't eligible for special education. Later, the boy was diagnosed with the disorder and his parents enrolled him at Mount Bachelor Academy in Prineville. The district says it shouldn't have to pay the private tuition because the parents didn't tell the district they withdrew their child for special education purposes.

Mary Broadhurst, the parents' attorney, said she doesn't intend to respond to the petition unless asked by the Supreme Court. Broadhurst declined further comment, citing the parents' privacy.

The Oregon Department of Education doesn't track how many reimbursement cases arise among the state's 71,000 special education students.

But tuition reimbursement cases are on the rise nationally, said Perry Zirkel, an expert on education law and professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

About 60 percent of special education rulings favor school districts, but reimbursement cases similar to Forest Grove's situation tend to favor parents, Zirkel said. And facts vary among the cases, which challenges the courts' tendency to group issues under precedence.

"When every case is a little different, it gets difficult to settle some of these issues," Zirkel said.

Given that the court heard a similar case just a year ago, the chance of justices taking on a similar case so soon may be unlikely. But, Zirkel said, "In my view, it's worth trying."