COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Senate Finance Committee agreed Tuesday that it would spend $341 million the state lottery is expected to generate - but left until Wednesday decisions on how that money will be divided.

The lottery money is the last big piece of the $5.3 billion budget the panel will deal with before sending the spending plan to the floor for debate in two weeks.

Lottery funds mostly go to scholarships and other college programs. But it was clear from Tuesday's committee meeting that some senators want to spend far more money on public school programs.

Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-West Columbia, asked that the lottery money first be used to cover the full cost of the Education Finance Act, a cornerstone of public school funding. That alone would have a price tag of about $247 million.

But Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence and the committee's chairman, questioned the wisdom of doing that.

"I don't know how in the world we're going to deny the students around this state who are dependent on those scholarships," he said.

Leatherman said students and families have made long-term education plans expecting the lottery to cover a variety of scholarships.

"I'm hoping that's not what the committee wants," Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia, said. Public school funding should come out of the state's regular budget, he said. "When we passed the lottery, that wasn't the purpose of the lottery," he said.

Setzler withdrew his proposal.

If more money ends up in public school budgets, it may come out of the $30 million the House earmarked for college research efforts in the spending plan it passed last month. That money will be added to so-called endowed chairs programs that should have more than $52.5 million in state coffers by June 30. So far, only $7.5 million of the $60 million set aside has been spent.

A panel overseeing that fund has approved other awards totaling $33.5 million, said Charlie FitzSimons, a spokesman for the Commission on Higher Education. But universities can't draw those funds until they find matching dollars from private donations.

At one point, it was proposed that the committee's top leaders go behind closed doors to work out an initial spending plan for the lottery money. Leatherman said the full 23-member committee would then decide what portions to accept, change or reject.

"They don't have a leg to stand on to go behind closed doors to discuss this," Sen. Bill Branton, R-Summerville, said and questioned whether the practice violated the state's open meetings law.

Leatherman agreed to keep the meeting open.