By Janine DavisRecord Staff WriterWright City R-II administrators earlier this month gave school board members a broad list of budget priorities for the upcoming school year.But they came with a caution after learning the state Legislature had passed a tax cut bill just hours before the meeting.“We’ve been working on the FY15 budget for a while, and had been running various simulations that we’ve felt good about,” said R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Gaines. “Then yesterday afternoon, tax cut legislation passed, so our projections have been thrown for a loop.”In the meantime, board members heard Gaines lay out some of the “big and global” priorities for the year, including new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses, pre-school education and teacher and support staff salary increases.“Some of the key elements in our projections cover the introduction of (STEM-based) Project Lead the Way, which replaces FACS (family and consumer science) at the high school, construction of the pre-school, building capacity for our 1:1 mobile learning initiative and implementing improvements outlined in our long-range facilities plan,” Gaines reported.Gaines said that the district is committed to closely following the recommendations of a salary study group in an effort to curtail the teacher pay gap relative to surrounding districts, especially to the east.Among the assumptions in next school year’s budget is a sizable pay increase for teachers who progress from a bachelor’s to master’s degree, and increases in salary steps for others, as well as for support staff.“One of the things we’ve talked about is the fact that we’re behind, and if we give the same percentage as everybody else, we stay behind since we’d be giving the same percentage of a smaller number,” said Gaines.“Based on what we know, our planned increases would allow us to play catch-up,” he added.Gaines said he hoped to have things locked in place in May, but that it may be June before all the dust settles. He said that as in the past, next year’s budget will be based supporting what district officials refer to as the “three rocks:” increasing student engagement, building academic rigor and taking data to action.“We’re putting the most effort into becoming better,” he said.R-II school board outlines budget priorities