Per-Student Funds Cut by State Budget, Analyst Says

Gov. George Deukmejian’s $40.5-billion state budget will not provide school districts with enough money to maintain their purchasing power per pupil, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill said Tuesday.

The analyst’s annual summary of the state budget said the governor’s budget provides a 0.5% increase in spending per pupil. But when the actual costs of providing goods and services for classroom instruction are factored in, “real” spending per pupil will drop 4.6%, from $2,560 to $2,443, during the 1987-88 budget year, the report said.

Difference in Figures

Hill’s figures differ from those used by Deukmejian and the Department of Finance, although the Administration concedes a drop. According to the Administration’s budget analysts, spending, when the costs of providing goods and services are factored in, will go from last year’s $2,000 per pupil to $1,966 this year, a 1.7% decline.

Deukmejian Press Secretary Kevin Brett said, “You have to look at the total picture. Over the last five years, kindergarten-through-high-school programs have received a 23% increase when adjusted for inflation. The governor has made a record commitment to education.”

Release of the legislative analyst’s report led state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig to again predict that school districts, particularly those in California’s largest cities, face serious budget cuts.

Honig said some school districts will have to delay textbook purchases, eliminate counseling, music, art or other special instruction or consider other cuts.

Coincidentally, Honig announced that education interests have received the green light from the attorney general’s office to go forward with an initiative drive aimed at modifying the state’s constitutional spending limit.

Honig blames the limit, in part, for the schools’ funding troubles.

The schools chief noted that while the state treasury has a healthy surplus, Deukmejian and legislative leaders are working out plans to give taxpayers a $1.1-billion tax rebate. The governor insists that a 1979 voter-approved amendment to the state Constitution establishing a state spending limit requires that he return the money to taxpayers. But Honig contends that Deukmejian has other options that he will not consider.

“Here we are, sitting on this huge surplus that the governor wants to return to the people, and we have to make these kinds of budget cuts. It doesn’t make sense,” Honig said.

Honig said he and other participants in the initiative campaign, chiefly members of the state’s powerful education lobby, will immediately begin circulating petitions, hoping for a spot on the June, 1988, ballot.

Deukmejian and the Democratic leaders in the Legislature have been unable to reach agreement on what form the rebate will take.

During a news conference Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said he and other legislative leaders will meet with Deukmejian today to discuss a possible compromise.

Deukmejian wants a direct income tax refund, with a maximum of $150 for individuals and $300 for couples, but Democrats want the governor to consider alternatives, such as a temporary reduction in the sales tax.