SALEM – Although the school district budget passed March 11, the failure of a deficit spending article for ballooning special education costs has put pressure on supply purchases, school officials said.

“It’s not necessarily a freeze, but it’s close to it,” Superintendent Michael Delahanty said, describing the loss of a $100,000 request taxpayers denied in a year fraught with “no” votes.

That $100,000 would have helped defray a $840,000 increase beyond the amount the school district budgeted for special education costs the school district is obligated to pay.

“If we had the deficit article we would have been able to overspend a little more than what we budgeted for catastrophic aid,” he said.

Due to an increase in students that require out-of-district placement for special education, the school district requested the additional money from taxpayers, Delahanty said.

The article failed as the last item on the school district ballot in a 2,458-to-2,340 vote, denying further funding to the operational budget.

According to school district business manager Linda MacDonald, special education in the current school year ran over the $2.9 million budgeted to cover out-of-district costs including tuition, transportation and any additional special needs.

Although the costs often vary from year to year due to the number of students and where they are placed, Mac- Donald said the costs have tripled since the 2003-04 budget of $1.3 million.

“It’s an obligation that we have to pay although it’s gone up significantly in the past years,” Delahanty said. “Increased students and increased costs of the programs bring up the cost. We generally try to look at the number of students that we have and we know what our past experience is, but unanticipated placements drive up costs.”

The shortfall will directly affect supplies and purchases at local schools, Delahanty said.

School-wide projects and new book purchases will likely see the most scrutiny as savings are considered throughout the school year to maintain the budget, Delahanty said.

“There generally wouldn’t be any concerns as long as there was enough money in the principal’s school supply account ... Now it’ll probably get a second or third look before approving or denying a request,” Delahanty said.