The cost of sending Wareham special education students to schools outside of the district is crippling the Wareham Public Schools' budget.

That is what School Committee member Geoff Swett said when school officials went before the Finance Committee Wednesday night to discuss next year's school budget.

There is currently a $2.2 million budget gap between revenues and projected expenditures in the town budget that needs to be closed before a budget is presented to Town Meeting voters on April 27. A significant portion of Wednesday's meeting focused on state-mandated costs to the school department that have skyrocketed in recent years. Mainly, that students with disabilities who have needs Wareham can't provide for must be educated outside of the district.

The cost to the school department for sending Wareham special education students outside of the school district reached $2,166,978 in 2015. That is a dramatic increase from the $1,371,953 figure from last year. This is due in part to two factors: an increase in the number of students being placed out of district and an increase in the cost of educating those students. The number of students receiving tuition outside of the district hovered between 22 and 28 students from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, 37 students were sent out of the district. That might not even be the final figure.

"That number is the Oct. 1 number . . . It will probably end up closer to 50 to 52 students by the end of the year," said School Business Manager Michael MacMillan.

Swett said there are two reasons the out of district special education costs are a problem. He said the first is that the Chapter 70 formula (the formula that determines a school's state aid in Massachusetts) didn't allow for the significant expansion of these costs across the state and as a result, school districts all over Massachusetts are dealing with this problem. He said the other reason is the out of control spending on health insurance.

"In a sense, your problem is the school budget, our problem is the special education budget," Swett said to the Finance Committee.

Wareham Schools Superintendent Dr. Kimberly-Shaver Hood said the schools are doing a number of different things to combat the special education issues.

"We're looking at the various disabilities of students that we send out and then we've looked at what can we possibly do to build up our programs in-house to support our students and so we can keep students or bring students back," said Shaver-Hood.

She anticipates being able to keep some of these students in the district next year with two new special education programs coming to the high school and pre-kindergarten.

Her presentation also detailed different methods planned to reduce these costs. They include: A strategic review; redesign and restructuring of district special education services; streamlining autism programs across the district and developing a program at the high school; reviewing out of district programs; and regularly monitoring Wareham students in out-of-district programs to assist their return to the district.

Finance Committee members also discussed the School Choice program, which allows parents to send their children to schools in communities other than the city or town they live in. The program began in 2006 and since 2012, Wareham has sent out more students than they have received. The number of Wareham students attending school outside the district reached a peak in 2015 of 155 students. The School Choice figures do not include students who go to Upper Cape Tech.

Finance Committee members and school officials agreed that changing the perception of Wareham' schools was key to turning the tide.

"We're certainly not sitting idly by and not preparing our students," said Shaver-Hood. "We believe it's a misperception and we certainly invite anyone in to observe our classes, to talk with our kids and teachers."

"We will make a difference for our kids, we fully intend to make a difference in our community," she added.