By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The Legislative Fiscal Office says the state will finish the current fiscal year September 30th with about a 120 million dollar surplus in the education budget because of better than expected tax collections. State Representative Richard Lindsey says he wants to put that money in a rainy day savings account rather than using it for special projects. Lindsey says if Governor Riley calls the Legislature into special session later this year, he'll propose legislation to put the surplus funds in the savings account set up by voters, initially using oil and gas revenues. Riley took 180 million dollars from the rainy day fund to prevent cuts in education spending in the 2003 budget year.