According to reporting from the Associated Press, just $25 million separated Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative negotiators as they tried to wrap up the session just concluded. That $25 million – in a $42 billion budget – has put a wrench in the works and will force a special session this summer.

The sticking point? Dayton has pledged to veto an education bill that would have added $400 million in funding for public schools. Dayton wants schools to get even more, with a special emphasis on early childhood education. Apparently during negotiations, Dayton dropped his call for a statewide preschool program, but still insisted on more school funding. His reason? The state has a hefty budget surplus of nearly $2 billion.

While the governor has the math right, his analysis is short-sighted. When state government starts spending more, that is not the end of it. The spending goes on, then grows. All state commitments to programs deemed “essential” by politicians trying to create legacies for themselves become burdens for generations of taxpayers.

And then there is a practical question for the governor to consider:?If Republicans are so awful that they supposedly hate public schools, why did they offer to up funding by $400 million? And if Dayton believes they are enemies of public education, shouldn’t he have grabbed their offer with both hands, immediately? Why risk alienating them?

We have to agree with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a Democrat from Cook, who says it will be good for lawmakers to get away from St. Paul a while and let emotions wane. When they come back, maybe Dayton will have come to his senses.