MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A state official says the Alabama Education Trust Fund should collect enough state income taxes and other levies to meet its spending target for this fiscal year and avoid across-the-board cuts.

The Birmingham News reports (http://bit.ly/QiuOrp) that Assistant state Finance Director Bill Newton made the comments Wednesday.

Newton also predicted the state general fund, a major source of state money for Medicaid, prisons and other non-education areas of government, should collect enough revenues to meet its trimmed spending target for the year without further cuts.

State officials say the Education Trust Fund collected $4.51 billion in October through July, the first 10 months of the state's fiscal year, an increase of $250.7 million, 5.9 percent, from the same period a year earlier.