Developing a robust early-childhood education program and paying down the state’s multi-billion-dollar unfunded liability in public worker health and retirement benefits are among Gov. Neil Abercrombie‘s top priorities.

The governor submitted his administration’s supplemental budget request and updated six-year financial plan to the Legislature Monday. The supplemental operating budget request was $11.8 billion for 2014 and $12.3 billion for 2015.

Hawaii lawmakers will start working on the budget in earnest when their next session starts Jan. 15. They will be juggling the governor’s requests with their own priorities and all the demands from special interest groups.

The state entered the 2014 fiscal year July 1 with a record $844 million carryover balance.

But some lawmakers, including Senate Ways and Means Chair David Ige, have cautioned that much of that surplus is already slated to be used to fund pay raises for public workers and the economic forecast isn’t as rosy as previously thought.

Check out Civil Beat later for the full story.

— Nathan Eagle

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie discusses the budget, Dec. 16, 2013. (Nathan Eagle/Honolulu Civil Beat)