ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is calling out the Maryland State Education Association’s lobbyists and spinmasters for twisting his recent decision not to pump $25 million into two education programs into something it’s not.

The MSEA, the state’s largest union, on Friday joined with the ACLU of Maryland and Sen. Richard Madaleno to publicly highlight $25 million Hogan decided not to spend on two education programs, and link the issue to funding he approved for private school scholarships.

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The Democrat controlled General Assembly recently blocked the Republican governor from transferring $80 million to a reserve fund and demanded he spend the money on a variety of programs backed by Democrats and Republicans in an “all or nothing” proposition that prevented Hogan from selectively funding the programs on an individual basis, The Baltimore Sun reports.

So Hogan decided not to spend any of it, and the rejected “all or nothing” deal that included $19 million toward teacher pensions and $6 million for an Aging Schools program, according to the news site.

The MSEA, ACLU and likeminded liberal lawmakers called on Hogan Friday to halt spending a separate $5 million he previously approved for a private school scholarship program until he agreed to fund the other education programs, and the suggestion didn’t sit well with the governor.

MSEA Vice President Cheryl Bost said the union is “disappointed that the governor is more concerned with winning a political argument with Democrats in the legislature than focusing on ways to improve our public schools,” according to the Sun.

“It’s yet another year of schools trying to do more for students with less help from the state than they expected,” she said.

Hogan responded to the accusations and others on Facebook:

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“We provided record funding two years in a row and protected your pensions,” he wrote. “Don’t believe this phony ‘cut’ propaganda from the union thugs.”

By thugs, Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer later told The Washington Post, the governor was referring to “paid political operatives and lobbyists” who have “waged a full-time campaign dedicated to misleading Marylanders about Governor Hogan’s record of historic funding in K-12 education.”

The governor’s comments on Facebook came in response to a post by Jeremy Walker, who alleged “for the second year in a row, Gov. Hogan is withholding school funding despite budget surpluses. Last year, he withheld $68 million; this year, it’s another $25 million that could have been spent addressing overcrowded schools, lowering class sizes, and providing students and educators the support they need to be successful,” according to the Post.

Montgomery County teachers union president Chris Lloyd told the news site his colleagues are now comparing Hogan to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Trump supporting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is known for his take-no-baloney approach to his state’s teachers union.

“It’s disappointing, especially as teachers are getting prepared to go back to school,” Lloyd groaned. “It’s disappointing to get to a level of name calling. Using the word is a stereotype of how we view teachers who are active and engaged in their union. …. It is his right to advocate for what he thinks is right and it is our right to do the same, but we should never resort to name calling or classifying whole groups of people into negative images.”

Union-aligned Madaleno is also attempting to link Hogan to Trump.

“He tries to distance himself from Donald Trump but he sounds more like Trump every day,” the senator told the Sun.

Ironically, the MSEA posted to Twitter Saturday that “We should never resort to name-calling,” NBC Washington reports.

Mayer said it was “preposterous” to compare Hogan to Trump, whom the governor has publicly stated he will not vote for. He also stressed repeatedly that it’s not teachers, but rather union leaders, that Hogan detests.

“The governor has great love and respect for Maryland’s hard-working teachers and all the things they do for our students,” Mayer said.