There is a proposal, too, to buy a building now being leased at the Bridgerland Applied Technical Center in Logan. Valentine said the opportunity to make the purchase will expire shortly before the general session of the Legislature begins in January. Whatever surplus money isn't spent in the special session, of course, will be up for grabs during the 2005 Legislature. Educators are already coming up with their own wish lists for the surplus.

Public schools are counting the ways they could spend the one-time dollars: $5 million to develop an online testing system; $3 million for library-media center materials; $442,000 to teach youth in custody, and $500,000 to match a National Geographic Society grant to improve geography and geology lessons.

Those figures are part of a preliminary budget request the State Board of Education will discuss Friday, associate state superintendent Patrick Ogden said.

Still, he knows that even a surplus in the uniform school fund isn't a sure shot for public schools. Both public and higher education can dip into the fund. The more higher education gets from the fund, the more general fund money is freed up for other state projects.

"We'll have to compete with all state entities (for the money)," Ogden said. "It's not a given that public education will receive any of this surplus money. But the needs sure are there." Utah Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell figures he knows how to spend a sizeable chunk of the surplus.

The 2004 Legislature promised a 1-percent bonus due this December for state employees, including staff and faculty at Utah's 10 public colleges and universities.

"I would hope that's still on everyone's mind," Utah Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell said. Higher education would need about $8.5 million to cover everyone. "I would hope that gets covered first."

After that, Kendell rattled off a number of priorities where state support has been lacking in recent years. Fuel and power costs keep rising on Utah campuses. The University of Utah's Marriott Library needs about $40 million for seismic upgrades and a new book distribution system. Last session, lawmakers funded only $675,000 of a $6 million request for an initiative to address a statewide nursing shortage. One third of a $1.5 million request to fund an engineering initiative was granted.

As higher education competes with public ed in the funding arena, Kendell said it's important lawmakers consider both as one entity while keeping in mind higher education's contribution to the state's economy.

"You've got to take care of the higher education piece too," Kendell said. And that means giving a "proportionate" share of the surplus to higher education.

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Contributing: Jennifer Toomer-Cook and Stephen Speckman

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E-mail: lisa@desnews.com