Updated at 7:13 p.m.
Republican lawmakers offered to revise their budget to meet Gov. Mark Dayton's funding requests for K-12 education and public safety during a Monday afternoon meeting.
In a letter to Dayton, GOP leaders said they were changing their targets "in an effort to break the stalemate between your administration and the Minnesota Legislature on the state budget." The changes, they said, would be a "100 percent match" with Dayton's funding requests on those bills.
The overall Republican spending target of $34 billion has not changed, however. The increases are expected to be made up in other areas of the budget.
Dayton called the proposal a "meaningful offer" but said there is still a "huge gulf between us." He added that he didn't plan on signing any budget bills until he and lawmakers agree on the overall size of the budget -- Dayton wants to spend about $36 billion over the next two years.
The changes amount to $80 million more for K-12 education than Republicans had initially proposed in their $14.1 billion education finance bill. For public safety and judiciary, the increase would be $30 million in a $1.7 billion bill.
"This is a substantial offer on our part to accept the governor's funding requests for half the entire state budget," House Speaker Kurt Zellers said in a statement.
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger contributed to this report.
