BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. John Bel Edwards is asking lawmakers to spend $19 million more this year on higher education than was budgeted. The money would fill gaps in the TOPS college tuition program, help schools facing accreditation reviews and pay for boosted online resources for students.
 
The items are included on a list of spending requests for the year that ends June 30. The Democratic governor is asking lawmakers to finance the list in the legislative session starting in April.
 
The largest item is $5.9 million for TOPS, as the program costs more than the $295 million lawmakers allocated for it.
 
Another $5 million would give cash influxes to three campuses under accreditation review: Northshore Technical Community College, Central Louisiana Technical Community College and the University of Louisiana at Monroe's pharmacy school.