Seattle city leaders were cool to a request by the union representing 5,000 Seattle Public Schools employees that the city share its unexpected good fortune with the district.

The Seattle Education Association (SEA), which represents the district's teachers, instructional aides and office staff, called on the City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels to set aside for the district $25 million a year for the next five years. The city expects to collect about $55 million more than analysts had predicted in sales, business and real-estate taxes by the end of next year.

Last spring, school-district managers estimated a $14 million budget deficit in 2006-07 and a deficit of as much as $21.5 million in 2007-08. Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas has proposed closing schools and reducing yellow-bus transportation as a means to reduce the budget gap.

Manhas said yesterday that he had nothing to do with the union's request, but he acknowledged that he was "looking for resources wherever I can find them."

Union President Wendy Kimball said the SEA's proposal, in addition to a previous proposal for the city to tax pop and water, is aimed at keeping the district's current level of service.

The union asked for five years of city funds, Kimball said, because it expects the Washington Education Association will need five years to litigate a lawsuit against the state for failing to adequately fund basic education.

City Councilman David Della, co-chair of the Joint City-Schools Committee, said he was waiting for recommendations from the superintendent's advisory committee, a 14-member panel Manhas appointed over the summer to recommend long-term solutions to the district's chronic budget deficits.

Nickels' spokeswoman, Marianne Bichsel, said the city has sustained $120 million in budget cuts over the past three years, and that the higher-than-expected revenue should be used to restore funding to public safety, transportation and human services.

"This is not extra money," Bichsel said. And only $29 million of the new revenue can be used freely, she said. An additional $26 million in real-estate-excise-tax revenue can be used only for capital projects, such as bridge improvements, she said.

Della and Bichsel both noted that the city already is giving the district $116.8 million over seven years through its Families & Education Levy.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com