The Dunkirk City School District, like many districts, is eyeing a 2024-25 budget with increased expenses.

Superintendent Michael Mansfield told the Dunkirk Board of Education Wednesday the projected 2024-25 expenditures for the district are up 4.67% — amounting to a $2,507,395 increase, to $58,958,090.

That’s even after district budget planners managed to cut $678,463 in expenses.

Mansfield explained the sources for the increase. The main one was the special education program, which is up $1,394,427.

“That’s just students coming in…that we have to place,” Mansfield said. “One of those costs in there is a new in-district classroom, because we are having trouble placing those students out of district.”

The budget for daily substitutes went up $354,025. “That has been federally funded and that has worked well for us. But now we have to move it out of the federal funds,” Mansfield said, meaning the grant is no longer available and it must be funded locally.

A third increase came because the district will now pay for an after-school program funded by a state grant that ran out, adding $288,050 in cost.

Mansfield said, “We looked at all that structural curricular technology and we reduced or eliminated anything that wasn’t heavily used.” He added that there are opportunities to save money from attrition via retirements and resignations.

However, the superintendent is intent on making sure students don’t suffer. “We really want to make sure that we’re being really efficient, but we don’t want to reduce our effectiveness,” he said.

Mansfield said there will be a 5.71% rise in pay for teachers, a $542,479 bump up to $14,643,712. The athletics budget is up about $130,000 due to the addition of new teams, which need new equipment, coaches and other support.

One unknown is busing costs. The district is rebidding transportation and currently has a Request for Proposals out. Bids will be opened at March’s end.

“Can you send us an email when you open those, because I’m kind of nervous about this whole rebidding thing,” Board of Education Kenneth Kozlowski asked Mansfield.

As of the board meeting, “we just don’t know” the costs, Mansfield said.

The budget will be the topic of board discussion at a March 20 workshop. It’s planning to adopt the tentative budget April 10, and hold the public hearing on it after the May 8 meeting. District voters go to the polls on May 21.

“Not that it helps, but everyone’s in the same boat” when it comes to funding issues, Kozlowski commented.

Mansfield was hopeful that more funding can be wrested out of Albany as state officials continue their own budget composition process.

“There’s schools that are talking about canceling kindergarten,” he said. “We are nowhere near that shape. I don’t want people to get upset thinking we’re going to have to have massive anything.”