By BOB LEWIS
AP Political Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The House version of the state budget due to be unveiled Sunday will include an additional $140 million for public schools.
And Gov. Bob McDonnell, fearing the Senate's 20 Democrats will block passage of a Senate version in a floor vote a week away, wrote to two Democratic leaders urging them to reach a compromise with their 20 Republican counterparts.
Senate and House money committees are scrambling to piece together their respective versions of the new state budget ahead of a Sunday deadline for sending them to floor votes next Thursday.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey Putney announced Thursday that his committee's version of the budget would increase state aid to local schools, partly by allowing for inflation, something McDonnell's budget would have eliminated.
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