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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― A south Minneapolis family and the Minneapolis Public School District will be back in court on Thursday to argue whether the public school district should pay for a private school tuition.

Earlier this year, a judge ruled the school district must pay $6800, the portion of the family's tuition that's not covered by a scholarship to a private school. The judge ruled the school district had failed to provide a free and appropriate public education to 12-year-old Cameron Bradshaw.

Cameron had been a student at Hale Elementary from kindergarten through fourth grade. He went to Field Elementary for the fifth grade. During that time, his parents and teachers agreed he'd made little progress in reading compared to his peers. He was diagnosed with dyslexia as well as other learning disabilities and was enrolled in special education reading classes.

By the fifth grade, Christine Bradshaw, Cameron's mother, said he was having difficulty with first grade books. His teachers report he had progressed to a second grade level. Both agreed it wasn't as much reading progress as they would have liked. The reports also showed Cameron had an average performance in other subjects like math and science.

By the end of his fifth grade year, Cameron's parents notified the Minneapolis superintendent they were pulling him out of his public school to attend Groves Academy, a private school that provides learning disability education. They sued the school district to pay $6800 of the $18,000 tuition. Cameron had received a scholarship for the rest.

"I was angry, mostly, but I still had hope because the people that he was working with him were wonderful, are wonderful," said Christine. "I just think they no longer knew how to teach him."

Groves Academy teaches a multi-sensory reading method called Orton-Gillingham. Christine said Cameron's reading had improved with that method when he was tutored in the summers between his third and fourth grade, and fourth and fifth grade years.

"I said, this is it, this is it. This is going to help my son," she said.

Christine said she wanted Hale Elementary to use the Orton-Gillingham method, but said she was told they can't because other students wouldn't benefit.

In court documents, the school district said it offered the Bradshaws another special education program at a different school, but the parents declined. The school district also argued the parents did not discuss any resolution methods before going to court. The Bradshaws said they'd met with the district several times.

The Bradshaws prevailed in their case against the school district and the judge ordered the district to pay the $6800. Minneapolis Public Schools appealed the decision. Its lawyer argued Cameron had made progress under the goals outlined by the district and a program designed specially for him did provide educational benefit. She also argued Cameron benefitted from being in class with his mainstream peers.

Laura Booth, lawyer for Minneapolis Public Schools, wrote, "In this case, Cameron did not progress like his peers nor did he learn to read at grade level but he did make progress in reading. His progress in reading was significant because of the severity of his disability."

Federal law requires a public school to pay private school tuition if the public school cannot provide a free, appropriate public education and the private school can. There are only a handful of cases where this has happened in Minnesota. There are no current cases in the St. Paul or Anoka-Hennepin School districts. The Bloomington School district says it pays the private school tuition of one student after it lost a legal case. Minneapolis said the last time they paid a private school tuition was 10 years ago. It lost the legal case then too.

The school district wouldn't comment on how much it's spent on the court case, but the Bradshaws said they've spent $70,000 defending it. They are asking the school district to pay part of the one-year tuition and their legal fees. The district says when determining the dollar amount for the tuition, it considers it to be closer to $167,000 – the amount of tuition money if Cameron were to continue and graduate from Groves Academy.

The Bradshaws hope Cameron's reading progress will continue to where he can catch up to his peers and return back to public school.

"I do as best I can do there and then when I'm done there I go and play with my friends," Cameron said.

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