This year’s state budget marked the first time in five years that the METCO program did not receive a funding boost that at least keeps pace with inflation, and leaders at the school desegregation initiative have been calling for lawmakers to step in with additional money.

The budget Gov. Maura Healey signed in August included $29.4 million for METCO, the state-funded program through which more than 3,000 Boston students enroll in and attend suburban schools.

That’s the same amount of money as was budgeted for METCO last year. Milly Arbaje-Thomas, the program’s president and CEO, said that keeping funding level as transportation and staffing costs rise amounts to “a big cut” in practice.

“In any educational program, costs go up year by year,” Arbaje-Thomas said.

She said transportation is a major cost driver, with Boston students typically traveling by bus to and from their classes and after-school activities in other communities. Arbaje-Thomas said METCO’s bus contracts this year went up by anywhere from 5% to 11%.

The program is also trying to deepen its racial equity and anti-racism work, Arbaje-Thomas said, with efforts including equity audits, trainings for districts and the development of a “blueprint” to help schools share its best practices.

METCO had asked budget writers for $32.2 million this year, a nearly 10% increase that Arbaje-Thomas said would have also supported an expansion, giving 116 more students new opportunities in suburban schools.

“Basically, we always get more applicants than we have seats available,” Arbaje-Thomas said.

She said METCO officials plan to meet with state lawmakers this week “to discuss what was missed” in funding for the program. The Legislature typically passes several supplemental budgets in any given year, and METCO officials have been hoping to come away with more money through one of those midyear spending bills.

A $2.8 billion spending bill that's pending now on Beacon Hill, hung up in private talks between the House and Senate amid a disagreement between the two branches over emergency shelter money, does not propose any additional METCO money.

Supporters of the school integration program also have their eye on next year’s budget, where they will again be seeking an increase. The state’s next fiscal year begins on July 1, 2024, but preparations for it are already underway.

Needham superintendent Daniel Gutekanst, a member of METCO’s board of directors, said both lawmakers and the governor have shown support for the program and that he hopes next year’s budget will provide more resources.

Nearly 200 Boston students are enrolled in Needham’s K-12 schools through the METCO program, and Gutekanst said all students in the district benefit from the chance to learn, work and play alongside peers from different backgrounds.

The next budget cycle begins in earnest on Dec. 4, when legislative and Healey administration budget writers will gather to hear revenue projections from experts. They’ll use those projections to estimate how much money the state has to spend and where funding increases are viable.

“While the original intent of METCO was the desegregation of Boston schools [and] providing Boston students with the opportunity to learn in a great school environment, that is still the case, but the reality is that we are strengthened every day, we are enhanced every single day that Boston students are part of our community,” Gutekanst said.