The state legislative auditor says the cost of special education is going up fast in Minnesota -- almost twice as fast as the cost of general K-12 schooling. The finding is part of a report released today (Tuesday) that has many legislators worried that special education may soon become too expensive for the state to bear... but as Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, legislators aren't sure what to do about it: Minnesota schools spent 1-point-1 Billion (B) dollars on special education students in 1995... that's about 21 percent of their total budgets. On a student-by-student basis, that works out to about 12-thousand dollars a year. Non-special ed students cost less than 6 thousand dollars a year. The numbers are impressive, but not particularly surprising to the legislators who appropriate the money being spent. Senate K-12 Budget committee