Honig Accuses Governor of ‘School-Bashing,’ May Seek Revenue Guarantee

Accusing Gov. George Deukmejian of “school-bashing,” State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig angrily threatened Monday to mount a statewide initiative campaign to guarantee local school districts a fixed share of tax revenues and remove “politics” from school funding.

The development came after weekend criticisms of Honig by Deukmejian, who asserted that a “thorough” review of public school system management is necessary to ensure that tax dollars “are spent wisely and not wasted.”

Deukmejian’s remarks, made during his weekly radio address, and Honig’s response represented a significant escalation in their battle over school funding.

Speaking to 80 parents, teachers and administrators from the Alum Rock Elementary School District in San Jose, Honig--in a clear reference to Deukmejian--said, “people are school-bashing and they are school-bashing for political and personal reasons.”

Honig suggested that Deukmejian is “thin-skinned” and is carrying on a “personal vendetta” against him because of animosity triggered by the public dispute between the two. He also said that by announcing new funding for community colleges and none for secondary schools, Deukmejian is “punishing” teachers and others fighting for more education money.

“It seems like he’s saying to parents, ‘Don’t you organize,’ He’s saying to me, ‘Don’t you say things about the budget, because if you do I’ll give the money to somebody else,’ ” he told the luncheon group.

Honig provided only sketchy outlines of the proposed initiative at the luncheon and later told reporters that he has not yet decided whether to go through with it. Honig already is leading one 1988 initiative campaign aimed at amending the government spending limit approved by voters.

Basically, Honig said, the goal of the new initiative proposal would be to allocate 38.5% of the state’s sales, income and corporate taxes to local school districts on an annual basis, thus guaranteeing the districts a stable source of revenue. Honig told reporters, “It’s getting so political up here and people are playing such games with the schools that I think if they keep doing this, I think we just do put that on the ballot and say to the public of the state, ‘Get schools out of politics. Keep it nonpartisan. Give them a direct percentage of the revenues so we don’t have to go through this every year.’ ”

What set Honig off were comments by Deukmejian on Saturday blasting management of the elementary-through-high school system, which the superintendent is responsible for, and at the same time announcing $140 million in increased funding for community colleges.

Honig said it is wrong for Deukmejian to single out public schools while praising community colleges because one of the sources the governor cited, a critical auditor general’s report, criticized both school systems.