Extra $700 Million for State Schools Is Vetoed

Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed legislation Friday that would have turned $700 million in surplus state revenues over to school districts rather than use the money for taxpayer rebates as the governor has proposed.

At the same time, Deukmejian issued a scathing denunciation of the estimated $41.5-billion budget fashioned by an Assembly-Senate conference committee Thursday. The governor, in a statement released by his office, said the new spending plan adds $500 million to his own $41-billion spending plan “to bloat an already generous budget.”

In his veto message, Deukmejian called the school funding bill “a transparent maneuver designed more for the purpose of political posturing than a sincere attempt to aid public schools.”

‘Returned to the Taxpayers’

Deukmejian again argued that the $700 million “should be returned to the taxpayers of California.”

The governor’s proposal would rebate to taxpayers 10% of their state income tax obligation for the 1987 tax year, up to a maximum of $95 for an individual or $190 for a couple filing a joint return.

The bill vetoed by Deukmejian, carried by Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), would have split the $700 million between public schools and community colleges, with kindergarten through high school programs receiving $550 million and the two-year colleges getting $150 million.

The $700 million is part of a surplus that totals about $1.1 billion. It represents money building up in the state treasury that cannot be spent because of the spending limit that was put into law by voters in 1979.

Deukmejian is supporting legislation that would give $400 million of the surplus to local school districts, but he claims that is the maximum allowable under the current law and insists that the state is legally required to turn over the other $700 million to taxpayers.

In his attack on the budget prepared by the Assembly-Senate conference committee, Deukmejian declared that budget negotiators put taxpayers “at the bottom of their list of priorities.”

Deukmejian also challenged the budget writers’ contention that their spending plan contains a $953-million reserve, describing it as “cosmetic.”

‘Unconstitutional Gimmicks’

“The conference report uses unconstitutional gimmicks to create the impression of a prudent reserve, when in fact it does not contain an honest, prudent reserve,” Deukmejian said, without elaborating.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig sharply criticized Deukmejian for vetoing the legislation.

“Denying our schools badly needed funds is shortsighted and will hurt our children and our educational program,” Honig said in a statement released by his office.

Honig said the $700 million would have provided $80,000 in additional funding for each elementary and secondary school in California, compared to what he said would be an average $50 rebate per taxpayer.