Fight for School Funds Spotlights Crusader : Aide to Supervisor Carries Budget Battle to Governor

In the battle raging here over education spending, there are the opposing generals--Gov. George Deukmejian and state schools Supt. Bill Honig.

There are also foot soldiers, among them the thousands of parents and teachers who have marched to the Capitol steps seeking more money for schools.

And then there is the machine gun--Dianne Jacob.

At least that’s the rapid-fire impression Jacob gives when the topic of education comes up and she replies with a stream of facts, figures and arguments aimed at showing that schools are slighted in the governor’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Only a few months ago Jacob, 47, was the little-known chief aide to San Diego County Supervisor George Bailey. Since the first of the year she has emerged as a key spokeswoman for schools across the state.

As a trustee of the tiny Jamul-Dulzura Union School District and president of the statewide California School Boards Assn., Jacob has been a one-woman counterattack, trailing in Deukmejian’s wake and spewing comments and press releases to buttress Honig in his battle with the governor.

Sharp Reply to Governor

While Deukmejian dismisses Honig’s crusade as no more than a cover for a future run for the governor’s office, what of Jacob, a Republican and a supporter of Deukmejian on most other issues?

After Deukmejian scolded Jacob’s school boards group at a recent breakfast session for always wanting “more and more and more,” Jacob shot back through reporters that she thought the governor was ignoring serious financial problems in the schools.

“I don’t know who the governor has been listening to,” she said in frustration.

When Deukmejian announced last week how he would distribute a $2.7-billion state budget windfall, Jacob responded in a statement delivered to capital press bureaus that the governor’s proposed $700-million tax rebate was “poor public policy” and that his plan would leave California schools $300 million short of the funds needed just to carry forward this year’s programs.

Jacob has helped Honig plan his strategy for mobilizing thousands of parents to pressure the governor, and she has taped a video outlining the case that was delivered to all of the state’s school boards. She appeared in a recent forum on the issue with Deukmejian’s education adviser and Honig.

“I’m not sure he (Deukmejian) has a real good understanding of what is going on in the 1,028 school districts throughout the state,” Jacob said in an interview. “I think it’s a lack of understanding. It’s our job to come forth and help him bridge that gap.”

With the growing budgets Deukmejian provided in his first four years in office, Jacob said, the schools have improved high school students’ test scores, gotten more students into tougher courses, and reduced drop-out rates. But more work needs to be done, she said.

A List of Problems

“We have 500,000 non-English-speaking students, we have 86 different languages being spoken in some schools, we have abused children, teen-age pregnancies, suicides,” Jacob said. “We have many children walking in that classroom door with a lot of social problems on their backs. We’re having to deal with those problems because they’re not being dealt with in the homes, where they should be.

“If we received the children from the home ready to sit down and learn, our education system would not cost as much.”

Honig said Jacob has proven to be an articulate spokeswoman for the schools. The fact that she is a Republican, Honig says, shows that the effort is a unified one.

“There’s an idea that’s kind of floating around that school board people should just crawl into their holes and be quiet and take what’s given to them,” Honig said. “She’s not like that at all.”

Yet neither is Jacob one to rant and rave or beat on tables. She tends to kill with kindness, say those who have seen her in action. Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles Democrat and city schools trustee, said Jacob is effective as the school board association’s legislative chairman, “weaving in and out” the interests of the state’s many school districts.

“She’s not afraid to speak up, but she doesn’t feel like she’s got to knock you over the head to get your attention,” Goldberg said. “She believes that the content of what she has to say will get your attention. She has a style that is soft-spoken but very forceful and direct.”

A Hectic Schedule

Despite her education duties, Jacob has retained her $38,500-a-year job with Supervisor Bailey, a Republican whom Deukmejian appointed to the state Air Resources Control Board. Jacob says she takes time off from her county job to do the school board work, and county records show that, since Feb. 1, when the schools battle heated up, she has missed at least 11 full days of work and parts of several others. In most cases, Jacob has managed to receive her full salary by working nights and weekends or by taking vacation time.

Jacob’s personal schedule, copies of which she provided at the request of The Times, also reflects her hectic pace. Hardly a week goes by when Jacob is not flying somewhere in California to make the case for schools.

One recent week went like this: On Monday, Jacob went into her county office to work in the morning, then flew to Sacramento for a press conference with Honig. She returned to San Diego that night for a Jamul-Dulzura School Board meeting.

On Tuesday morning, Jacob again went to the office, then left for Sacramento for a noon meeting of a Honig advisory committee. She met that night with an expert on developer fees and testified on that issue the next day before the Senate Local Government Committee. She flew back to San Diego that afternoon and spent two hours in her county office.

Thursday found her meeting with a group of poultry farmers about flies, a Julian developer about problems he was having with his project, a task force on transportation in Santee and a constituent at Bailey’s El Cajon office.

On Friday, she attended a meeting with Bailey and his East County staff, a luncheon session to discuss the East County Performing Arts Center and a meeting on the proliferation of bed-and-breakfast inns in Julian.

Then she left for the weekend: a whirlwind trip visiting schools and addressing trustees in Eureka, Ukiah and Mendocino with state Sen. Barry Keene, a Benicia Democrat and author of a bill to give schools $76 million that Deukmejian cut from the education budget. Deukmejian vetoed Keene’s bill.

No Conflict Seen

So busy has she been that Jacob said she hardly ever sees her husband, Paul, a Trans World Airlines pilot based in Los Angeles. In fact, the two recently spent the same night at the same San Francisco hotel and each never realized the other was there. “That’s how fast our lives are moving,” she said.

Bailey said he doesn’t see any conflict in Jacob’s extensive outside schedule as long as she takes time off the county payroll.

“Before she accepted this job with the school board association, she came to me and asked me and I gave her my permission,” Bailey said. “I said I expected her job with me to get done, but I wouldn’t discourage her or stand in her way and we’d do whatever we could to make it work out. It’s worked out fine.”

Bailey said that, at times, Jacob has been able to lobby state legislators on county issues while in Sacramento on education business. “She’s made contacts in Sacramento that give me additional contacts there on county business,” he said.

Although Bailey intends to run for another four-year term in 1988, Jacob has long been mentioned as his possible successor when he leaves the board. Bailey, in fact, said he at one time urged Jacob to run for the seat before he decided to do so in 1984.

Assemblyman Larry Stirling, a San Diego Republican who has often been at odds with Honig on education spending and reform, said he admires Jacob for speaking out on the issue even though it puts her at odds with their party’s leader. Stirling, who has worked often with Jacob because both he and Bailey represent much of East County, said he thinks she would make a good candidate for public office.

“She is mature in coping with adult situations, which is not usual,” Stirling said. “In a world where people write us mean and nasty letters all the time, where they don’t see both sides of issues, where they huff and puff and call us names, she’s not of that genre.”

Jacob said her statewide experience has given her a background that might help should she decide to run for local office or the Legislature. But she wouldn’t say what her next move might be.

“All my options are open,” she said.