State lawmakers hastily voted to approve a budget bill Monday that legalizes racetrack slots, overhauls the funding of public schools and reverses a tuition freeze at state colleges and universities.

A story from the AP says, the $50.5 billion, two-year spending plan also restores some money to libraries, removes a provision that would have allowed natural gas drilling in state parks and strips school districts of the authority to determine whether pupils say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 54-44 for the budget, while the Republican-led Senate approved it by a vote of 17-15. Democrats supported the plan while Republicans generally opposed it, decrying its spending levels, reliance on one-time federal money and the speed with which it was pushed through the Legislature.

Rank-and-file lawmakers didn't see the roughly 3,000-page document until late Monday morning. Eight hours later, it was on its way to Gov. Ted Strickland, who is expected to sign it into law as early as Wednesday.

The compromise resolves an impasse between Strickland and Senate Republicans over the governor's plan to install slot machines at Ohio's seven horse-racing tracks to raise an estimated $933 million. Strickland signed an executive order Monday to expand the Ohio lottery to include the slots, and the Legislature would acknowledge his authority to do so in the budget bill.

The budget plan could lead to at least 2,000 state employees losing their jobs, but final layoff numbers won't be available until state agencies can analyze their spending cuts.

Those who administer Ohio's social safety services said they had been slashed beyond reason.

Joel Potts, director of the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors' Association, said the cuts "are far more catastrophic than anybody thought they'd be and will have a long-term devastating effect on those most in crisis. I honestly don't know how we're going to meet demand."

Democrats who control the Ohio House defended the budget plan.

"We have also made many painful and unpopular spending cuts, but we have done so in a way that reduces the size of government while still protecting our most vulnerable Ohioans," the Democrats said in a statement.