After a full general session and an extra special session of the Alabama State Legislature, lawmakers and Gov. Robert Bentley have yet to agree on how to solve a $250 million problem.

It’s an issue that has bedeviled state Republicans since they took a super-majority in the legislature. The state’s General Fund — the pot of money that pays for everything except education — has been going deeper and deeper in the hole, The Education Trust Fund, on the other hand, has a surplus of roughly the same amount.

For first-term Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, the whole process has been eye-opening.

“We did our part and passed a budget, but the governor didn’t go for it,” Shelnutt said.

Bentley has proposed making up the difference with tax increases on cigarettes and use taxes (like sales taxes, but applied to goods bought out of state). Tax increases of any kind were not on the legislators’ agenda; they instead proposed large cuts in several state agencies.

When the two sides couldn’t agree in the regular session, Bentley called a special session that ended two weeks ago. That session went nowhere, so Bentley is expected to call another session very soon.

“We’re sitting on pins and needles, waiting for the call,” Shelnutt said. “It could come today and we’d have to be there tomorrow,”

Shelnutt said he wishes he had an idea of what the solution will be — and he’s not alone in the legislature.

State President Pro Tem Del Marsh made a proposal to move the entire Education Trust Fund surplus over to the General Fund. “but that had no legs,” Shelnutt said. Marsh also proposed legalizing full Class II casino gambling — with table games and slot machines instead of “electronic bingo” — for the state’s greyhound tracks and Poarch Indians bingo facilities. That proposal also fell flat.

Still, Shelnutt said there is growing acceptance of a proposal by the Senate and House chairmen of the Education Committees to have some of the Education Trust Fund sources moved to the

General Fund.

But whatever course Bentley and the legislators take, they must do so quickly. The state’s fiscal year runs out on Sept. 30.