Honig Forming a Group to Lobby for Increased School Funding

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig told a bipartisan group in Orange County Thursday that he is forming a statewide lobbying organization to try to get more state money for education.

Later in the day, Honig spoke to a gathering of Orange County teachers, administrators and school board trustees, who are helping to form the county’s branch of the lobbying group.

Honig is calling the overall organization the “California Movement for Education Reform.”

In a luncheon speech to the County Club meeting in Santa Ana, Honig said: “This isn’t a PAC (political action committee). This is a lobbying organization. It’s like the Sierra Club, like Common Cause. We now have an organizing committee formed in every major county.

“It’s going to unite the efforts of schools boards and PTAs and teachers and administrators and parents who want better education.”

Honig has been involved in a highly public struggle with Gov. George Deukmejian to get more money earmarked for education in the governor’s 1987-88 budget.

Deukmejian, who has previously sided with many of Honig’s educational-reform proposals, has often criticized Honig this year because of the budget dispute. Deukmejian has said that Honig is “a demagogue” who has offered no alternate sources of money to fund higher education.

In his speech to the County Club, Honig did not mention Deukmejian’s name. Instead, he appealed for both Democrats and Republicans to unite behind his statewide move to get more money into the education budget.

“This year, for whatever reason, education did not get the normal increase (in funds) from the state,” said Honig. “State education needs a $1 billion yearly increase just to stay where we are. The increase that is proposed is $400 million. So we need $600 million more just to stay where we are and not cut into the progress of our educational reform.

“We also need another $300 million for improvements in education--to keep the reform system going. This money would be an investment. It’s a smart thing to do. I can sympathize with the (Deukmejian) Administration. They have limited funds and a lot to do, and where do they get the money? I think if the political will is there, if there is an understanding by everyone involved, if we get that kind of mind-set, this will work out,” he said.

“The money is there one way or another. The money is there in increased revenues, in the reserve, and there is the possibility of closing (tax) loopholes and other forms of revenue enhancement.”

In an interview after his speech, Honig said that Orange County residents have shown great interest in forming the “California Movement for Education Reform” lobbying arm. “This is a county with a large school population, and people are concerned about good education here,” he said.

He noted that Orange County residents played a key role in forming citizen support groups in 1983 that pushed for the landmark educational reform bill passed that year, Senate Bill 813.

Honig said that his new lobbying organization will, in effect, save the reforms that SB 813 has begun to produce. These reforms, he said, include tougher school curricula and improved statewide test scores of the students.

Honig made his morning appearance in Anaheim, addressing a state convention of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. His afternoon meeting with school representatives who will form the Orange County arm of “California Movement for Education Reform” was held at Fluor Corp. in Irvine.