TALLAHASSEE -- University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft and Sen. JD Alexander met for about an hour Monday but failed to reach an agreement on the university’s proposed budget for next year.

Genshaft and Alexander both described the conversation as fruitful but failed to reveal many details about the meeting.

It was the first time the two have met in months and follows a tumultuous few weeks that started when Alexander, the Senate budget chairman, surprised university officials by supporting a bill to immediately turn USF Polytechnic into the state’s 12th university. Alexander later proposed massive and -- according to the university -- disproportionate budget cuts for the school.

Alexander and Senate leaders say USF’s cuts appear larger because the university is sitting on nearly $100 million in available reserves.

Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, who urged Monday’s meeting, says he is hopeful Alexander will relent on some of the USF cuts. Alexander did agree to release $25 million that had been sequestered from the university to force their cooperation with the USF Polytechnic split.

Norman is working on a Plan B if Alexander is unwilling to go further.

The first-term senator and former Hillsborough County commissioner is drafting a proposed budget amendment that would restore about $33 million of the cuts originally proposed by Alexander. He said he also wants the Senate to give USF the $18 million it needs to pay for USF Polytechnic faculty and $6 million for the pharmacy school that it’ll have to absorb if the Lakeland branch campus splits off into the state’s 12th university, as Alexander wants.

Norman said the idea has support in the Senate, and he’s getting ready to start working over House members.

“I’m going for certainty,” Norman said. “I want absolute certainty.”