About a billion dollars separates Senate Republicans from House Democrats on how they believe the Legislature should respond to last year's Supreme Court ruling on money for Washington schools.

But lawmakers from both parties say the differences are not so far that they won't be able to work out a compromise before the Legislature goes home this spring.

The chair of the Senate Education Committee says they won't go home without an agreement, but he doesn't promise the compromise will make anyone happy.

Lawmakers don't agree -even within their own parties - about what to pay for first, where to get the money and how much of a down payment toward an estimated $4.5 billion the state will likely add to K-12 education dollars by 2018.