By Janine DavisRecord Staff WriterThe Wright City R-II Board of Education approved a $18.9 million budget for the 2014-2015 school year which officials say will continue the district’s recent progress.The school board voted unanimously to adopt the budget at a special meeting June 26.The spending plan includes projected revenues of $17,450,908 across all funds, up from $17,111,122 in the past year. Expenditures in the new budget are projected to be $18,962,561 compared to $18,263,727 last year.Setting aside Funds 3 and 4 for debt service and capital spending.The operating and teacher funds were approved at $15,562,167. The anticipated deficit is $473,523. The district’s fund reserve balance for the year is projected at 26.22 percent, down from 31.64 percent at the close of the 2013-2014 fiscal year.“We ran all these numbers, and then (the following) Tuesday, we got the announcement that the governor plans to withhold funds, so that could move the needle on this; we really don’t know,” R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Gaines told the board.Gaines said he had talked to a number of people since the governor’s announcement and the consensus seems to be that “we’ll be back to where we need to be after a veto session.”Nixon has said he would release the funds once his vetoes of various bills passed by the Legislature to reduce taxes were sustained.Gaines offered an explanation of assumptions that guided development for this year’s budget. On the revenue side, he said the budget assumes a slight increase in assessed valuation over last year due to new construction.In September, revenues will be adjusted when the district receives the final assessed property value numbers and sets the new tax rate, he said. County revenues are being held steady at 2014 numbers.The district is budgeting revenues from Prop C, a statewide sales tax, at the middle of the range provided by DESE.Expenditures are based on teacher salary schedules that include base pay that is being increased by around 2.3 percent, Gaines said. Pay for support staff increased 2.3 percent. The increases come out of recommendations from a salary study group that weighed R-II’s pay against other school districts in the area and determined the district needed to be more competitive to retain good teachers and staff.“Most of the (year-over-year) increases in the budget are on the payroll side,” said Gaines. “On the non-payroll side, we’re holding things pretty steady.”Other major expense items include the district’s expansion of Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) and a new preschool building and broader programming for pre-kindergarten children. The new building will house preschool, early childhood special education and Parents as Teachers programs.The combined cost for two teachers and two aides is about $163,420, plus supplies, which will be reimbursed 100 percent by the state in the 2015-2016 school year. The state also will reimburse much of the cost of building construction in the next (2015-2016) school year.Also included in the budget is a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program, Project Lead the Way, which will be introduced in the fall, and other initiatives around student engagement and use of data in helping students achieve at a higher level.Funding for the district’s multiyear facilities improvement plan and technology replacement and upgrades also are included in the budget.R-II’s budget has steadily increased over the last decade as the district has grown and as leadership has worked to introduce programs and resources that have resulted in the district’s distinction last year as one of the most academically improved in the state.Wright City R-II Board adopts $18.9 million budget