During the annual budget presentation for the Wright City R-II School District ahead of the 2027 fiscal year, the district’s board of education was given a cautious outlook on the direction of the district's financial picture.

At the June board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Amy Salvo and district Director of Finance, Veronica Klaus, outlined the proposed fiscal numbers for board approval. This brings to an end the budget process which began with a budget workshop held by the board in early June.

“We had our budget workshop on June 1, so we’re to that final phase,” Salvo said. “What happens from there is that we work very hard after we get direction from the board. There’s a lot of steps from (the budget workshop), and we go from there. It (the Fiscal Year 2027 budget) is based on estimates and projections. As we get more real numbers, then we bring in amendments.”

According to the presentation, the FY26 ending balance is $28,929,467.50.

Looking forward, Salvo said, the district’s overall financial goals remain unchanged.

“Our goals with any budget are that we want to maintain competitive salaries,” Salvo said. “We want to be able to plan for our students’ needs and student population, as well as address our current facility needs.”

Along with salary and benefit increases for staff, the cost of student transportation is expected to rise in FY27.

Those goals being what they are, projections for FY27 paint a less-than-ideal picture, as estimated expenses ($46,972,455.53) outpace estimated income ($37,102,946.39) by some $9,869,509.14 and, if the estimates prove correct, would drop the district’s FY27 ending balance to $19,059,958.36.

Klaus said that, while there is an expected increase in local revenue of roughly $537,000 due to a 5% increase in new construction, the state funding for students is taking a hit.

“Revenues for FY27, we plan to be semi-flat,” Klaus said. “Locally, we anticipate a budget increase due to new construction. Our largest impact on revenue will be that we predict state (funding) to go down due to a decrease in the SAT (State Adequacy Target).”

Klaus informed the board that SAT funding would drop by around $450,000 as the SAT amount would decrease from $6,964 to $6,742 per student.

Other recommendations put forward included: an increase of $4,200 for early childhood aftercare, an additional special education teacher and paraprofessional position at East Elementary, a market value increase for the pay rate for summer school paraeducators on Step I from $17/hour to $18.96, a two-percent raise to the certified and support staff salary schedules and a three-percent raise to administrative positions that do not receive a salary step.

Additionally, certified staff members in years 11-20 would receive an additional $250 while staff in years 21-31 would receive $450.

The budget passed by a unanimous vote.

The final piece of business for the FY26 budget was also handled at the meeting as the board voted unanimously to accept Budget Amendment No. 3, which includes a revenue adjustment of $85,583.21 and an expenditure adjustment of $209,264.78, which accounts for a fund balance of 24.76 percent, which is up from the projected balance of 23.04 percent after Budget Amendment No. 2.

“This is how we predict the FY26 budget to end, and this is a starting point for the FY27 budget,” Klaus said. “You have to know how to end to know how you’re going to start.”