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The Quincy School Board unanimously passed a balanced budget for the current school year.

The more than $69 million budget provides for a combined 4.75 percent increase in salaries and step increases for teachers.

You'll recall the Quincy School Board made $2 million in reductions last spring to tighten the budget.

Those cuts resulted in the elimination of 28 teaching positions and frozen wages for 22 administrators.

Superintendent Lonny Lemon says those cuts were what the district needed to get back on track this year.

But while the budget is balanced now, that could change depending on the state's funding situation this year.

What are the major challenges facing the Quincy School District in the coming budget year?

Lemon said, "The state paying their share. The local people are paying their share and we collect that money but the major challenge for us is the state is trying to play catch up on last year's payments and paying in a timely fashion on this year's payments."

Last school year the state was $3.1 million dollars behind in general state aid payments to the Quincy school district.

That required the district to take out a line of credit last spring to pay its bills.

Now the state is paying overdue school payments to districts like Quincy using federal stimulus money.

That lost revenue from last year is now included in Quincy's budget this year.