Even though Gov. Mark Dayton asked the Legislature to separate K-12 education finance and policy provisions, lawmakers blurred those lines anyway. Embedded in the $14 billion conference committee spending package are several policy steps -- including barring teachers from striking -- that should be rejected.

But there are also provisions in the policy bill that should not become law. After a visit from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush last month, for example, the Republican majority proposed a statewide mandate to hold back all third-graders who fail the state's reading test.

The ex-First Brother told Minnesota lawmakers that Florida's fourth-grade reading scores improved dramatically after a third-grade retention policy went into effect. In 1998, almost half of Florida's fourth-graders were functionally illiterate; over 10 years the number improved to 28 percent.

But Bush didn't mention any possible effects from a class-size reduction referendum that he opposed but that was approved by voters.

Nor did he add that several researchers attribute the test score gains to the fact that kids who weren't reading well in the third grade didn't advance to fourth grade and drag down scores at that grade level.

The early-grade reading improvement in Florida has not translated to better overall education outcomes. The state's ACT scores are the third-lowest in the nation, while Minnesota's are the highest. Minnesota is among the top five states for graduation rates, while Florida is near the bottom.

In fact two studies, including one from Central Florida University, conclude that holding kids back can have a negative affect, including widening racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps. Across-the-board retention is not a model Minnesota should emulate. Rather, targeted intervention with individual students has a better chance of success.

However, there is one lesson that Minnesota should take from Florida. Bush's state was among the first to fund universal all-day kindergarten and pre-school for 4-year-olds. Although it's been proven that quality early education works for kids, Minnesota continues to lag behind on preschool programs. Neither of the Legislature's proposed measures include significant early education support.

Lawmakers also will send Dayton a K-12 policy bill that would strip the education commissioner of rulemaking power and transfer that authority to the Legislature. That would remove the commissioner's power to set academic standards.

Without rule-making authority, for example, the department could not even be involved in conversations about the national move to adopt common core standards, as 41 states have done.

Every detail of education policy in Minnesota need not be vetted by a long legislative process. As education professionals, the commissioner and department staff should continue to establish many guidelines.

Dayton should veto the K-12 budget and policy bills and continue to work with lawmakers to get the worst policies out of the bills and focus on reaching compromise on the best.