Honig Calls for Battle to Restore Funds for Gifted

Continuing his attack on Gov. George Deukmejian’s austere spending plans for public education, state Supt. of Education Bill Honig on Friday exhorted members of the California Assn. for the Gifted to “turn up the flame” under the governor in order to get him to restore $21 million for gifted education he has proposed eliminating.

Speaking to a friendly crowd in Los Angeles, Honig said that it is unfortunate that he had to become “confrontational” about the education budget for next year, but he added, “we’re not going to win” without the strong tactics.

The governor wants to phase out the gifted education program, as well as five other special programs for needy and underachieving children, in order to finance a class-size reduction effort in public school grades 1, 2 and 3.

Advocates of gifted education say that, if anything, the state’s gifted program should receive more money. Honig said that last year a review panel assembled by Deukmejian said the gifted education program has been effective but under-funded. The positive report, Honig said, makes the governor’s budget cuts even more puzzling.

“If there had been any analysis on why gifted education programs should be cut, then maybe we could understand the proposal to dismantle a program that has proven successful,” Honig said. “But the governor gave us credit for a job well done. It doesn’t add up.”

About 200,000 of the nearly 5 million students in California public schools have, by means of IQ tests and other standardized measures, been identified as gifted, according to Ron Fontaine, president of the California Assn. for the Gifted. Organization leaders believe that the number should be 15% to 20% higher, but lack of funds for testing and evaluation has prevented these students from being identified.

Money for education programs for the gifted are spent on a wide range of academic activities. For example, the $3.3 million the Los Angeles Unified School District receives for gifted programs pay for magnet schools, an intensive Saturday arts program at California State University, Los Angeles, and special enrichment programs at 600 schools covering such topics as puppet making, architecture, great authors, marine biology and computer workshops.

The Los Angeles district also uses state gifted-program money to pay for all high school advanced placement classes.

The Deukmejian budget calls for a public education budget of $17.2 billion for the 1987-88 school year. This is up $621 million, or 4%, from the current year, according to the governor’s office.

Honig, pointing out that the student population in the state is increasing, said that the increase is not even enough to compensate for inflation, and that on a per-pupil basis state spending is actually scheduled to decline slightly.

Deukmejian has countered that state spending for education has increased dramatically since the first year of his Administration. He said that competing demands for state funds, combined with a constitutional spending limit, have made large increases for education impossible this year.

On Friday, Honig told supporters of the gifted program that they must “band together” with parent and education groups if they are to be successful in fighting the budget cuts.

“You have a program on the chopping block and you understand what’s at stake,” Honig said. “You’ve got to go out and make others understand that their children’s future is being determined by decisions in Sacramento.”

Fontaine said members of the organization plan to rally on the steps of the state Capitol next week and then spend the day lobbying elected officials to restore the cuts.

Even if the Legislature votes to restore the programs, however, the realities of state budget politics make it unlikely that the programs will survive unless Deukmejian changes his mind. The state Constitution empowers the governor to veto specific programs in any budget the Legislature approves, and it takes a two-thirds vote of both the Assembly and Senate to override a veto.