Illinois made grant payments to schools on time for the first time since 2007, but it’s not clear if it helped correctly or not.  Grant money for programs including transportation and special education had been lumped into the state’s backlog of unpaid bills and usually doesn’t get paid on time.  Nashville Grade School Superintendent Mike Brink said it is great to get the money on time, but the school still recorded a loss.  The state owed them $77,268 for special education and transportation expenditures, which they did get and get them up to date on that, but the fact that the state owes them $110,000 in general state aid, which it will never get, due to the 89 percent pro-ration, it doesn’t balance things.  Money that is not expected until after the new school year begins and arrives before expected in the current year, will most likely mean fewer payments the next year.  Nashville High School Superintendent Wendy Davis says they also received approximately $26,000 for special education and $65,000 for transportation, and that is great, but because it came in 2013-2014, they may only receive 3 payments in this next school year, which would be less than they were going to estimate.  So while it looks good now and the schools really need the money, they could be in trouble next year with fewer payments.  Both agreed that if the temporary income tax hike of 2011, which is set to decrease from 5 percent to 3.75 percent in January, is reinstated, that would help with payments next year.  As of now, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka says this decrease could result in $1.3 billion less for the state.