SALEM - School officials are bracing for a $700,000 hike in next year's special education budget, a jump that follows an average incerase of $400,000 the school district has seen in each of the last three years.

Special Education Director Patricia Stone told the School Board last night that most of the $700,000 will be used to send students with disabilities to schools outside the district because local teachers were not qualified to teach them and address their particular disabilities. Read this article in full with a
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