Time for an Initiative to Improve Education

The Bill Honig-George Deukmejian face-off over the state’s education budget is little more than an argument over rearranging limited deck chairs while our schools sink deeper into mediocrity.

Compared to the other 49 states, California ranks anywhere from 31st to 47th in support of kindergarten to 12th grade education, depending on which measure you use. The additional 1% of the state budget Superintendent Honig wants spent on schools will not significantly improve California’s ranking--or the quality of our educational programs.

The answer is passage of a law--to be exact, a state constitutional amendment--mandating that California’s public schools rank in the top 10 of the 50 states by both expenditure-per-student and performance.

This is not a revolutionary idea. Beginning with the 1978 passage of Howard Jarvis’ Proposition 13, Californians have increasingly chosen to make laws themselves, frequently bypassing their elected representatives in Sacramento. Actually, the current underfunding of education developed under one of the provisions of Proposition 13.

For our schools, the problem with Proposition 13 is its requirement of a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to increase any tax or to pass a new levy. Since it passed, the Legislature’s Democratic majority has been held hostage to the minority Republicans on finance issues, including attempts to augment the education budget. This has been particularly true in the Assembly where the “Proposition 13 babies”--Republican assemblymen elected along with Jarvis’ measure--have routinely blocked new taxes, even in tax areas where the state lags behind other states.

Of course, taxes are obnoxious. But, as Jarvis often asked, why not let the people decide? Polls show there is a solid majority of Californians who support a tax increase if the money is dedicated to education. Similarly, there is a majority of votes (though not a two-thirds majority) in the Legislature to increase some taxes, such as those on alcohol and cigarettes. And there certainly is strong sentiment from the superintendent’s office through the Assembly and the Senate to improve our schools.

Just as voters dramatically altered the property tax system, the voters can pass a new initiative, fixing Proposition 13’s adverse impact on education, by mandating achievement and spending-per-student comparable to the best states in the Union. We already have a precedent. By law, a percentage of revenues from the State Lottery are dedicated to schools--and the state cannot reduce allotments to schools and make it up with lottery money. Unfortunately, the lottery profits are insufficient to the need.

When Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann wrote into the state Constitution stern limits on property taxation and government spending, all the law required of them was a simple majority-plus-one vote. Nothing more should be required for California to have educational excellence and the financial means to accomplish it.

MARK RYAVEC

Los Angeles