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The legislature will jump right from crossover into budget debates. The Senate budget is set to be released online Sunday evening, said Sen. Pete Brunstetter, a chief budget writer.

Budget subcommittees will talk about the proposal in Monday meetings. On Tuesday, the budget proposal will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee and come to the floor on Wednesday and Thursday.

Brunstetter, a Winston-Salem Republican, wouldn't give details on the budget, such as a bottom line. "We'll tell you after it gets released," he said.

UPDATE: Senate leader Phil Berger says the budget proposes to spend $20.4 billion, less than Gov. Pat McCrory's $20.6 billion proposal.

The budget does reflect proposed tax changes that have not yet been approved. The Senate tax proposal assumes a reduction in state revenue.

"The fiscal impact of tax reform will be reflected in the budget," Brunstetter said.

About 100 students, advocates for workers' rights, immigrants' rights and others protested in front of the Legislative Building on Wednesday.

This follows a Monday night protest at the Legislative Building where 17 people were arrested.

Wednesday's group marched from the edge of N.C. State's campus to Jones Street carrying banners condemning tuition increases, budget cuts and legislative proposals such as a voter ID law. Some of the banners read "Don't Kill Our Future," and "Stop Attacks on Workers."

Five people knelt in the middle of Jones Street while the crowd gathered around chanting "Pope says cut back, we say fight back," referring to state budget director Art Pope.

The doors of the Legislative Building were locked and security posted at the entrances in preparation for the march. Most legislators had cleared out by the time the marchers reached the building

UPDATE: Five protesters were arrested when they tried to push their way past officers who had lined up in front of the Legislative Building, General Assembly police Chief Jeff Weaver said. The five would be taken to the Wake County Jail and booked on assault charges, Weaver said.

About three dozen officers from the General Assembly police, Capitol police and Raleigh police departments gathered as the protest formed outside the statehouse. The arrests happened about 6:20 p.m. Earlier, several members of the legislative black caucus showed up at the rally and expressed their support for the protesters.

Gov. Pat McCrory, appearing at the High Point Market, told furniture industry leaders on Saturday that he didn’t make it clear to his budget-writers how much he valued the trade show, The Hickory Daily Record reports.

As a result, McCrory said, he took the blame for proposing in his budget that funding for the twice-yearly market be cut from $1.65 million to $800,000 by the middle of 2014. Earlier this month, McCrory said he supported full funding, the newspaper reports.

McCrory made the remarks at a news conference in Hickory following a private meeting with furniture industry leaders. The event is the largest home furnishings trade show in the world, the Record reports.

Gov. Pat McCrory raised the possibility Wednesday that public education leaders- from pre-K to the university system - would get together on a budget to send legislators rather than have each sector work separately with the governor's office on the proposal.

McCrory described it as his "Aha!" moment as he assembled his first budget.

Closer collaboration on budgeting was one of the goals discussed at the first Education Cabinet meeting in the McCrory administration.The cabinet has the branches of state education and a representative of independent universities consider joint projects and ways to cooperate.

A collaborative budget would be a switch from current practice, where budget requests are developed separately and the K-12 public education and the UNC system often seen to be competing for money at the legislature.

McCrory said he and his budget staff thought it would be better to have pre-K through universities work on a budget together - "have an education budget as opposed to a university budget, or a K-12 budget, or a community college budget, or a pre-K budget."

McCrory acknowledged that there is already information shared. For example, leaders of the community college system meet regularly with UNC system leaders and with the state Department of Public Instruction. But McCrory wants a formal process with his office in on it.

A bill that would give students who transfer from public to private schools up to $4,200 a year to pay tuition was filed Monday in the House.

House bill 994 would set aside $40 million in the budget year beginning July 1, and $50 million the following year to award the scholarships.

Rep. Rob Bryan, a first term Republican from Charlotte is the lead sponsor. Another Republican and two Democrats are signed on as primary sponsors.

Under the bill, families that are at 300 percent of federal poverty level or below would be eligible. This year, 300 percent of the federal poverty level is $70,650 for a family of four.

Battle lines have already been drawn over this issue. A group of public school supporters is working on fighting it.

Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina sent out a statement praising the bill: "This bipartisan measure represents the demand of parents who, despite their committed efforts, have to watch their children suffer academically because of where they live and how much they make."

Clarification: In the first year, 2013-14, the income ceiling is 225 percent of federal poverty level.

A new House bill would limit eligibility for the state's pre-kindergarten program so for a child to get in next year, families couldn't make more than half what the do now.

The bill would reduce income eligibility from about 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 100 percent. If the income limit was in place this year, a family of three could not make more than than $19,530 a year to have a four-year-old qualify for N.C. Pre-K. Some of the other ways to qualify, such as having developmental needs or being a child in a military family, remain in the bill, although a child with limited English proficiency would no longer meet the guidelines.

The program started to help "at-risk" four-year-olds get ready for kindergarten. But in the last two years, the definition of "at risk" triggered a heated debate between the former Democratic governor and the new Republican-led legislature. Poor school districts ended up suing, and Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning said the legislature could not erect barriers to enrollment for at-risk children.

Gov. Pat McCrory will release his budget proposal on Wednesday morning in a news conference with reporters in the State Capitol.

And in a sign of the times – whatever they may be – McCrory’s office announced the announcement by releasing a “budget teaser video” and posted it on YouTube.

With all the trappings of a campaign commercial, the video features the governor hugging children, signing bills, giving speeches, as increasingly rousing music rises in the background.

Economy, education and efficiency are the guiding principals, McCrory says in the video.

The General Assembly is scheduled to begin discussing the budget on Thursday morning.

When Gov. Pat McCrory rolls out his budget this week, he will be in a much better situation thanks to a slowly improving economy.

Tax revenues increased $626.2 million or 5.5 percent for the fiscal year 2013 through the end of February, according to figures released Monday by the State Controller's office.

Non-tax revenues increased by $5.8 million or 0.8 percent as compared to the previous year. The General Fund's unreserved fund balance as of February 2013 was $429.2 million as compared to $72.1 million of year earlier.

Gov. Pat McCrory said he expects to present "a very, very tight budget" to the legislature in several weeks.

The governor said he is spending about three hours per days working on the budget. He said the revenue stream "causes us some concern.''

"We hope to have the budget within the next couple of weeks," McCrory told the Council of State meeting on Tuesday. He said he was running about a week behind schedule.

Democratic legislators warned that automatic federal budget cuts coming March 1 will damage the state economy, the state budget, children and their families.

The N.C. Budget & Tax Center, part of the N.C. Justice Center, is asking legislators to sign a letter to the state's Congressional delegation urging a "balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes additional new revenues and protects the state budget." The Justice Center is a policy and advocacy organization for poor and working-class people.

The budget cuts will hit military employees, defense contractors, Head Start students, and families who have subsidized child care. The automatic federal budget cuts were part of a 2011 deal between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans that allowed the country to raise the debt ceiling.

The letter says cuts to defense spending are expected to cost the state $1.5 billion in defense contracts and 11,000 jobs, and non-defense cuts are expected to cost nearly 1 million jobs nationwide and reduce the state's gross domestic product by as much as $2 billion. The budget numbers were taken from a U.S. Senate report from 2011.