HARRISBURG -- Even though a handshake agreement was reached early yesterday on a new $28.2 billion state budget that calls for no tax increases, the House and Senate won't take final action for several days.

Legislators' goal is to vote by late Thursday, so they can be home on July Fourth for parades, picnics and politicking. Because it will take a couple of days to print and proofread the hundreds of pages of the document, and because the House sometimes waits for 24 hours before a final vote on bills, it's unknown if the lawmakers will be back home Friday.

Another question is how many of the 100 amendments that House Republicans have prepared will be debated on the floor. Lengthy debate could delay final action by a day or more.

"People are hoping to have the budget all done by Thursday, so everyone can get out by July 4. It's a heavy lift, but it can be done," said Gary Tuma, spokesman for Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, one of the Senate budget negotiators.

The proposed budget for fiscal 2008-09 is 3.8 percent higher than the spending package for the just-ended fiscal year, an increase that is near the rate of inflation. That was important to Senate Republicans, who objected to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell's original budget of $28.3 billion, which would have increased state spending about 4.2 percent.

"With the current economic downturn, we needed to put forth a budget that creates more stability for citizens and businesses," said Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson. "It's a fiscally prudent budget that doesn't take more money out of the pockets of Pennsylvanians already struggling with skyrocketing gas and food prices."

This is the first of Mr. Rendell's six budgets to be settled before a new fiscal year started on July 1. After compromises by all sides, he and legislative leaders reached the tentative deal just after 1 a.m. yesterday, about 23 hours before the 2008-09 fiscal year began -- at 12:01 a.m. today.

In 2003, Mr. Rendell's first year in office, agreement on all aspects of a state budget didn't come until just before Christmas; in 2004, the budget, including the slots casino law, was approved in the wee hours of July 4; in 2005, the budget was approved at 2 a.m. on July 7, and included the infamous legislative pay raises that were later repealed.

Last year, the budget wasn't finalized until July 19, and only after 25,000 nonessential state workers were furloughed without pay for a day.

The governor's threat to furlough the workers again this year played a major role in getting compromises. Lawmakers from the Harrisburg area were especially upset about the furlough possibility, because many of their constituents are state workers.

Some observers saw the furlough threat as a device used by Mr. Rendell to provoke serious discussions. Lawmakers from all areas of the state are eager to start the summer recess so they can go home to campaign for re-election. They won't return to Harrisburg until late September.

Another motivator for a budget deal was the National Governors Association annual meeting, which is July 11-14 in Philadelphia, where Mr. Rendell lives. It might have been embarrassing for Mr. Rendell to host the meeting if his own state budget hadn't been settled.

Complicating the budget talks was the fact that the surplus from the just-ended fiscal 2007-08 budget wasn't nearly as big as expected.

In February, when Mr. Rendell unveiled his original $28.3 billion budget, the economy was stronger and he forecast a surplus of $427 million as of June 30. That dropped to $159 million, which necessitated some spending reductions.

One important compromise was a decision not to tap the state's $742 million Rainy Day Fund for 2008-09 spending. Legislators did agree not to put an additional $40 million (from the 2007-08 surplus) into the Rainy Day Fund, but to use that for this year's budget.

Many details of the budget hadn't been released yesterday, a day after the deal was announced. More specifics are to be disclosed this week as House and Senate debate goes on.

Here are some of the known highlights:

Education

Mr. Rendell and House Democrats had been holding out for increasing funding by $291 million in 2008-09, the first year of a six-year plan to hike that funding.

Yesterday's deal cut that figure to $274 million. Steve Miskin, an aide to House GOP Leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney, said the change also included a reduction in a special $34 million allotment for Philadelphia schools, so more than 230 other school districts would get additional funds.

"We are extremely pleased with the education numbers," said Johnna A. Pro, a spokeswoman for Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, House Appropriations chairman.

Economic development

The cap on borrowing for capital projects was increased from a proposed $750 million to $800 million. The Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program pays for bricks-and-mortar projects around the state.

Infrastructure

The agreement includes $800 million for dams and aid for municipal water and sewer facilities in areas other than Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, plus $350 million to fix about 400 bridges most in need of repair. Mr. Rendell originally had proposed spending $200 million a year for 10 years to fix bridges, but this money is just for one year. The money for dams will come from an economic development fund included in the 2004 slots law. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are getting money for different projects from that fund.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, "is very happy to have a budget in place that contains no tax increases and maintains the Rainy Day Fund balance, while including important funding for education, water and sewer infrastructure, bridge repairs and alternative energy," said aide Erik Arneson.