Representative Timothy Jones, the Republican speaker of the House, equated the move to a bribe to get education officials across the state to lobby lawmakers against the tax cut.

“It’s an artificial crisis Jay Nixon has created,” Mr. Jones said, adding that the governor has changed in this, his second and final term. “It’s a much more partisan, militant attitude that I, frankly, do not understand.”

Representative T. J. Berry, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said his party cared deeply about making sure that school systems were financed. He noted that financing for kindergarten through 12th grade had remained fairly consistent over the past five years, even in the midst of the recession. He also said the bill required the state’s economy to grow before any tax cuts were implemented. “This argument that Republicans are against public education and we don’t care about kids, it’s hogwash; it’s garbage,” Mr. Berry said.

Mr. Nixon says he has tried to avoid emotional, politically charged comments on the tax bill, though that does not seem to be the case when discussion shifts to Mr. Perry. During a visit to the state a couple of weeks ago, the Texas governor made a video for Grow Missouri, urging people to join the override fight for a bill that he said would make Missouri more competitive. “The message across this country is, ‘Don’t mess with Missouri,’ ” Mr. Perry said in the video.

Asked about Mr. Perry during an event here last week, Mr. Nixon broke from his conversational tone. He wagged his right index finger in the air. “The challenge for jobs that we’re in, if you’re thinking it’s between Texas and Missouri and Kansas, you’re missing the whole picture,” he said, his voice thundering. He then held his hands on either side of his head and shook his palms. “The competition for jobs for us is, like, between us and China and us and Russia. I mean, it’s a worldwide economy.”

Speaking about Mr. Perry during the interview, Mr. Nixon started, “Three things,” breaking into laughter as he mimicked Mr. Perry’s infamous flub during a Republican presidential debate last year when, under questioning, he failed to remember the third federal agency he had proposed to eliminate.

“I think when he jumped inside a veto override fight,” Mr. Nixon said, pausing to choose his words carefully, “that’s not the way governors deal with each other.”