A two-day spring break and built-in “weather days” highlight the 2013-2014 academic calendar approved Monday by the Troy City Schools Board of Education.

The district’s teachers voted 131-84 in favor of the calendar as presented to the board. It was described as “a very close race” by Superintendent Lee Hicks.

The calendar calls for classes to begin on Aug. 19, with a fall break Oct. 17-18. Christmas vacation is Dec. 23-Jan. 3, 2014 and Spring Break is March 24-28, 2014. The last day of school will be May 23, 2014.

“We have 175 days of instruction with two days of fall break and weather days built in,” Hicks said. “So we more than meet the state requirements.”

In other business during its regular meeting on Monday, the board received the audit conducted by Brunson, Wilkerson, Bowden and Associates P.C. for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2012. The board received an unqualified opinion, the highest issued, for both its general budget and federal programs. The audit report shows the district had total assets of $33.338 million at yearend, a decrease of $2.377 million from the prior year.

Total liabilities for the fiscal yearend were $25.848 million, just slightly up from the prior year’s $25.537.

The change, according to the report, was largely due to a decrease in cash balances of $1.878 million; a decrease in lease proceeds receivable for $4.442 million; and an increase in capital assets of $4.19 million.

Decreases in revenues included a decrease of $947,581 in operating grants and contributions and a decrease of $121,665 in capital grants and contributions. General revenues decreased by $283,614.

The board also:

• Approved the retirements of Mary Felix, special education teacher at Troy Elementary, and Charles Smith, special education teacher at the ALC, both effective May 31.

• Approved the resignation of Alissa Jordan, science teacher at Charles Henderson High School, effective May 31.

• Authorized the joining of a class action lawsuit seeking damages for lost revenues from BP resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Hicks said the district lost about $300,000 in tax revenues during that year, largely due to a decrease in sales tax as a result of decreases in travel and tourism.

• Heard and approved the financial report. Utility costs for the period Jan. 10 through Feb. 10 were $35,835, a 20 percent increase over last year. “We’ve found out the City of Troy had a five percent rate increase in January. That, combined with the additional square footage at the elementary school and high school, contributed to the increase,” Hicks said. Sales tax revenues for March were $218,245, a 4.7 decrease from the prior year.