Topeka ? The Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday approved a budget request that would maintain current levels of base funding to universities and include targeted enhancements sought by the state’s post-secondary schools.

Regents Chairman Kenny Wilk said the proposed projects sought by the schools “are all very compelling.”

Vice Chairman Shane Bangerter described them as worthy projects because they “directly impact the health and wealth of the citizens of our state. You wish you had unlimited resources to fund all these asks.”

The budget request will now go to Gov. Sam Brownback’s office for consideration. The governor will submit a budget recommendation to the Legislature at the start of the 2015 legislation session in January.

The request includes $31.7 million for projects for the universities in the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2015.

This includes $5 million to establish a Drug and Vaccine Discovery Institute at Kansas University and $3.4 million for a 3 percent merit-based salary increase for faculty and staff at KU Medical Center.

“Some of the things we need to accomplish as a university, especially with regard to enhancing our research profile, would be greatly supported by the Drug and Vaccine Institute,” said KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.

KU Medical Center officials have requested funds for the salary increase because state-funded employees there have received only one annual raise in the past five years.

In addition to the funding requests from the universities, the proposal seeks $8 million in additional funding for community colleges and $2.5 million in the next fiscal year for the state’s need-based student financial aid program.

At a budget workshop last month, board members declined to ask for a nearly $24 million increase to cover the cost of inflation, saying that would be dismissed by the Legislature.

But the regents have forwarded a list of other enhancement projects for policy makers to consider. That list includes $7 million for KU to develop Innovation Way, which will replace outdated science teaching and research facilities, and $2.4 million for the KU Medical Center campus in Wichita.

Wilk noted that sometimes legislators have different priorities they would like to fund.