PORTLAND (AP) - A family who sued an Oregon school district for allegedly failing to properly address their son's learning problems will not have their boarding school costs reimbursed, a U.S. district judge ruled.

Educators and parents are now watching closely for the outcome of the parents' appeal to the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals - which could set the precedence for districts in several western states.

The District Court ruling also has put some families on edge.

In 1992, Barbara and Stan Ash, of Lake Oswego, won a tuition reimbursement case at the state circuit court level against the Lake Oswego School District.

They were awarded $350,000 for reimbursement for their autistic son's education.

Oregon's 71,000 special education students are guaranteed the right "to free and appropriate public education" under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

According to the law, when public schools fail to provide proper services they must offer families tuition reimbursement so that their children can go elsewhere to fulfill their education needs.

But the manner in which the law is applied depends on the outcomes of individual court cases.

In Oregon, cases of tuition reimbursement are rare - roughly on the order of one or two a year. But these kind of challenges are on the rise nationally, said Perry Zirkel, an expert on education law and professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

One reason for their rise is parents are more and more willing to gamble with the court system - enrolling their special needs students in private institutions and then awaiting the result of their litigation.

Such was the case with the parents of a boy at the Forest Grove School District who in 2001, was evaluated by the district staff. They determined that he did not have a learning disability and so was not eligible for special education.

But the student - whose name has been withheld to protect his privacy - consistently had trouble paying attention and finishing school work, according to court records. His grades kept dropping and he was using marijuana.

The family contends that the district failed to diagnose him properly. A doctor hired by the family later diagnosed the boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In March 2003, the family removed him from the school and enrolled him at Mount Bachelor Academy, a boarding school for children with learning problems in Prineville.

One year later, an administrative law judge ruled that the Forest Grove district would be liable for the $65,000 the parents paid for the boy's 18 months at the academy. He is now 20 and attending a community college after successfully graduating from Mount Bachelor Academy in June 2004.

But on May 11, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled that the Forest Grove district is not liable for the reimbursement of the fees.

An attorney for the parents said the family has notified the district that it intends to appeal, said attorney Mary Broadhurst.

The Forest Grove district has paid $50,000 in legal fees, said the district's business manager Mike Schofield.

Losing the case would be a further drain on the district, which has a general fund budget of $40 million for the current year.

The possibility of an appeal is making school district's ancy.

"It's nerve-racking for us because it's expensive," Jay Richard, a special programs director for the Hillsboro School District, said. "We can deliver a lot of education to a number of kids for that kind of money."