Budgets for individual public schools will be cut by an average of nearly 2.5 percent this fall, city Department of Education officials said yesterday.

“It’s just going to be very difficult,” said one Queens middle-school principal. “They’re going to expect us to do miracles — again.”

Administrators claim they’re eating a third of education-budget cuts by shedding $97 million from central and field offices while the schools cover an additional $178 million reduction.