(RALEIGH) -- Senate budget writers are rolling out the details of a $19.4 billion spending plan. The Senate plan cuts additional funding for teacher assistants, but does add about 1,400 teaching positions for grades one through three.

Majority Whip Sen. Jerry Tillman said a emphasis is being put on the early grades. "We're going to make sure kid read by the time they get to fourth grade.  At the end of third grade, with the extra teachers that we're putting in and with additional help we will provide if they can't read, they're going to read before being promoted to fourth grade," said Tillman.
 
The Senate budget plan would also base teacher pay on performance rather than longevity.  Five more instructional days would be added to the school calendar, replacing current teacher workdays.

Gov. Perdue has threatened to veto any bill that does not include an extension of temporary taxes. "The public expected those taxes to be temporary," said Tillman. "They expected them to go away. Never has the legislature honored its word and let them go when they were able to turn them loose, so now we're going to get within $200 per kid of the funding that the governor recommended."

The governor's proposed budget totals almost $20 billion.