CARLSBAD -- Parents who contributed $4,000 each in tuition payments for a proposed private school for autistic children in Carlsbad say they now fear that it may never open.

"As far as I'm concerned the money is gone, but they need to be held accountable," said Julie Balke, a Vista resident with a 5-year-old son who was to attend the proposed National Center for Autism Research and Education.

Balke and several others said this week that they have tried repeatedly to contact the school's leaders over the past several months to find out whether it would open this fall as originally planned. They said their phone calls were not returned until earlier this week, that the office space school officials had leased for months in Carlsbad's business park area was vacant on Friday, and that tuition money hasn't been refunded.

"They took something away from our families … they took trust away," said Becky Crane, a Vista resident with an 8-year-old son who was planning to attend the school.

A school official said Wednesday, however, that school leaders haven't dropped their plans to open the facility -- they've just delayed the opening until January, and will give back parents' money if they ask for it now.

"There have been updates on our Web site, and we have been in contact with all the parents at this point," said Keith Bergland, director of human resources for the proposed school.

In a recently posted notice on the school's Web site, school officials indicate that they had troubles obtaining a site zoned for a school. They also said they were viewed with suspicion by area public schools and found that it wasn't easy for parents to pull their kids out of traditional public schools and enroll them in the center.

While school leaders haven't given up on opening in Carlsbad, they are making plans for locations elsewhere, the notice stated, adding that they have decided to put their corporate headquarters in Las Vegas and will open an autism center in Salina, Kan.

A dream come true

School officials did find a location for a Carlsbad school earlier this year, but didn't have the enrollment to make the project work at this time, Bergland said Wednesday.

He said only 10 children enrolled. He added that any dissatisfied parents can submit paperwork to have their money refunded.

"We would be happy to give it back to them, once we receive that notice," he said.

Back in April when school leaders announced their plans, they said their proposed facility would serve up to 200 children ages 8 to 22. Parents said this week that the age range was later expanded to include younger kids.

The exact site wasn't released -- school officials said they were in escrow on a property and didn't want to name it until they had the title.

Randy Hickman, one of the proposed school's founders, said at the time that the project was an outgrowth of his plans to found a private Christian high school. He said he had delayed those plans in favor of an autism center, saying that the number of children diagnosed with autism has been rising in recent years and services for them are urgently required. He added that he hoped to create a series of these centers across the country.

Autism is a developmental disability that is usually diagnosed in children when they are about 3. Children with autism have trouble communicating and interacting with others -- some, such as Balke's son, don't talk. They typically have a reduced sensitivity to pain, but are extremely sensitive to noises and touch. Various therapies are used to help them learn to interact appropriately with other people.

The proposed school, which would allow parents to stop driving to multiple offices for their children's therapy needs, sounded like a dream come true, even though tuition was proposed to be $50,000 a year, several parents said this week.

"I was so excited for (my son), I called right that day," Crane said, her voice breaking as she started to cry Tuesday afternoon.

A growing debt

School officials told Crane and others that if they provided $4,000 in a deposit, the school could qualify for a huge grant that would cover the rest of their annual tuition expenses, Crane said.

Bergland said Wednesday that the grant funding remains available despite the delays in getting the project started, but declined to say how much of a grant the school had or where the money was coming from.

"I can't comment on that," he said.

Jerry McTaggart, the landlord who rented office space to the school officials until last week, said he has heard various stories about the grant money. He said he heard initially from Hickman that the school would receive $212 million from a private foundation via an overseas account, then heard that the money had been stolen.

Ultimately, he said, he stopped believing the stories and began the process to evict the school leaders from the office building he owns on Edison Place in Carlsbad's business park. He said they moved out Friday. At that point, they were roughly $80,000 behind on their rent, he said.

Bergland said Wednesday that the school offices have relocated to 2888 Loker Ave. East. He said he couldn't comment on the lease problem with McTaggart's building.

"I don't know the information behind that," he said. "I wasn't part of that, so I can't speak to that."

Parents who were planning to put their children in the school say they think school leaders had a great idea and became overwhelmed by the permitting and licensing difficulties for such a school.

McTaggart, who runs a Christian credit counseling service and homes for needy children in Baja, said that he was once the school's "biggest cheerleader" but that he is no longer convinced that the school leaders were all that devoted to the project.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.