ST. PAUL — Education makes up the biggest chunk of Gov. Mark Dayton’s plan for how to spend a projected $1 billion surplus in the state budget.

The governor proposed on Tuesday nearly half a billion dollars to offer free preschool to 31,000 4-year-olds and increase school funding, among other programs. The pitch aims to reduce the gap between Minnesota’s white students and students of color, which some say is among the worst in the country.

Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said setting every child up for success will help Minnesota in the future.

“The best way to do that is through an excellent education,” she said.

Dayton revealed the broad strokes of much of his education plan last week. The Democrat wants to spend $373 million of the projected two-year surplus to eliminate Head Start waiting lists, offer more early education scholarships and expand the state free breakfast program through third grade. He’s also proposed a 1 percent increase in the basic per-pupil funding formula for districts in each of the next two years — money those districts could spend as they see fit.

The governor’s preschool plan is less ambitious and less expensive than one proposed by Senate Democrats, which would start this year and cover the entire state. Dayton wants to spend $109 million to offer voluntary preschool starting with the 2016 school year, with the state covering only half of the cost to districts. The Senate bill was estimated to cost $416 million in its first two years and would leave the state on the hook for the full bill.