Topeka ? State coffers bulged last month with nearly $46 million in unanticipated revenues, bolstering some legislators’ hopes that Kansas can afford the three-year school finance plan they approved.

The plan phases in a $541 million increase in aid to public schools, but legislators didn’t specify how they’d pay for the new spending, creating fears that a budget shortfall would emerge by 2008. The newest revenue figures, released Tuesday, lessen worries about the state’s financial future.

“This is encouraging and gives us a higher comfort level,” said Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton.

The state expected to collect $453.4 million in May but took in $499.2 million, according to figures from the Kansas Legislative Research Department.

Since July 1, 2005, when the current fiscal year began, revenues have run $48 million ahead of expectations, which were revised in April with a new, sunnier financial forecast. For the fiscal year through May 31, the state collected $4.82 billion, compared with a revenue forecast of $4.78 billion.

In May, individual and corporate income tax collections, at $292 million, were $53 million more than expected. The Legislative Research Department said a higher number of Kansans owed money to the state in May than in May 2005, and the average payment due also was larger.

The department’s report said the personal and corporate income tax numbers reflected stronger-than-anticipated growth overall, not an extraordinary event such as a large corporation making a big, one-time payment.

While state officials have generally seen the state’s economy as improving, some legislators wondered whether revenue growth would be enough to keep pace with the additional spending for schools.

The education plan was an attempt to meet a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to increase school funding. The court has scheduled arguments for June 22 on whether the plan meets constitutional muster.