SACRAMENTO, California (AP) - State lawmakers are hailing Facebook's much-anticipated stock offering as a potential windfall for California's cash-strapped treasury, while some already are saying the extra revenue should go to preventing cutbacks to public schools.

Republican minority leaders Bob Huff and Connie Conway issued a statement Wednesday saying the state should use the expected tax revenue "to protect our public school students from the governor's trigger cuts and pay down the state's debt service."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat from Sacramento, cautioned that it's unclear when tax revenue from those reaping the benefits of Facebook shares will reach state coffers.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has said the state stands to reap hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Silicon Valley social networking giant says it wants to raise $5 billion.