Mecklenburg school and county leaders often find themselves at odds over education spending, but some agreed Friday to push lawmakers for better information on the state budget earlier in the year.

The chairs and vice chairs of the school board and county commission met to discuss the 2011-12 CMS budget, including some criticisms over whether school leaders misled the county on how much state money CMS would receive.

The county gave CMS $26 million more this year after the district said it was facing up to $100 million in cuts from the state and layoffs of 1,500 employees.

But the district's final budget is slightly bigger than last year, with more jobs, because of the county increase and smaller-than-feared state cuts.

Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, said she is glad the county provided the increase to CMS, saying it helped prevent some job losses. She said she doesn't think the board will make any changes to this year's allocation to the district.

But Vice Chair Jim Pendergraph, a Republican, said he wants to talk with other commissioners to see if they'd support taking back some or all of the $26 million. Last month, Pendergraph said the school board was "less than honest" about its budget and knew about the better-than-expected state money before commissioners took their final budget vote.

CMS leaders have denied that, saying they did not know for sure how much money they would receive until the N.C. General Assembly approved its budget, which occurred a week after the county vote.

School leaders have long complained that they must vote on a budget before state lawmakers, who provide more than half the CMS budget, approve a spending plan. The local vote has to occur early so districts can notify teachers by mid-May if their contracts won't be renewed.

Friday's meeting was attended by Roberts and Pendergraph, as well as school board Chair Eric Davis and Vice Chair Tom Tate.

After the meeting, Roberts said the group agreed to talk with legislators about how to get earlier, better information about the budget outlook to counties and school systems.

Pendergraph also said commissioners should consider putting any proposed increase for CMS into a contingency fund and wait until the state budget is approved before deciding whether to spend any of the money.

Pendergraph said he thinks it's important to spend money on education, but said the county should consider other needs, including how much taxpayers can afford. He said the $26 million increase is equal to about 2.5 cents on the county tax rate.