K-12 Schools Bounce Back in Spending Plan

Gov. George Deukmejian on Thursday proposed a substantially more generous budget for kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools over last year, but the increase would leave the schools only slightly better off than they were two years ago.

The governor’s spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, submitted Thursday to the Legislature, would give the schools a $977-million increase. Federal funds, local revenues and state lottery earnings would mean an overall increase for K-12 schools of $1.7 billion.

The money would cover the costs of additional summer school classes, bonuses for exceptional mentor teachers, statewide enrollment growth--estimated at 130,000 new pupils this year--and a cost-of-living adjustment of 4.37%.

All levels of education would receive state money totaling $19.2 billion, out of a $44.3-billion proposed state budget for fiscal 1988-89.

Higher education would receive about $6.5 billion, which includes state money, plus local revenues, lottery earnings and student fees. That would be an increase over this year of 6.5%. Officials at the University of California, the California State University System and the community colleges said they were happy with the proposal, although they had all asked for much larger hikes.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, who lambasted the governor last year for what he termed a “disastrous” education budget, was reluctant to criticize as too small the proposed increases in the K-12 budget.

‘A Fair Shake’

“I think we got a fair shake. . . . This is a realistic budget,” Honig said.

He later acknowledged, however, that the governor’s spending plan does little more than allow public schools to recover from last year’s budget wrangling, which left Honig with about $400 million less than he believed schools needed just to stay even.

“We’re not going up; we’re not going down. We’re staying at about the same” funding level, he said. “We’ve recovered from last year, but it’s still not enough.”

Under this spending plan, school districts would have $4 more per student in 1988-89 than they did two years ago. Per-pupil spending would rise $52 to $3,552--”more funding per pupil than ever before in the history of the state,” Deukmejian told reporters at his annual budget briefing Thursday. Two years ago, the state spent $3,548 per student.

California is ranked 27th in the nation in per-pupil spending, according to figures compiled annually by the National Education Assn. Honig said California still trails New York by $2,500. New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Oregon are also among the states that spend more per student than California.

California School Boards Assn. President Maryanne Houx, reflecting the generally upbeat reaction of Honig and other state education officials, said the governor’s budget “encourages us greatly. (It) clearly re-establishes public schools as a top priority.”

Bill Rivera, spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said the district staff has not had time to thoroughly review the governor’s spending plan. But, he said, “We’re pleased, of course, with the thrust of the budget.”

School Construction

The governor’s budget for the 1988-89 fiscal year also proposed doubling to $1.6 billion the amount to be spent on K-12 school construction. Last year, his Administration agreed to a five-year plan that promised $800 million in school construction bonds for 1988, but the governor is now proposing that two ballot issues of $800 million each be placed before voters in June and November.

The state faces a $400-million backlog in local districts’ requests for construction money. Additionally, the spending proposal contains about $150 million to pay for reform initiatives he authorized in 1983. It includes an extra $10 million for teacher training, $12.9 million for mentor teachers, $3.5 million to improve and streamline student testing and $20 million for summer school classes--particularly for potential high school dropouts. The reform money is a “down payment” that falls about $200 million short of what is needed to improve the schools, Honig said.

Child-care and preschool programs would receive a full cost-of-living adjustment for the first time in years. Honig said these areas had been severely under-funded in previous budgets, which resulted in the elimination of these services in many districts.

The budget does not provide money for reducing class size, which state education officials have repeatedly cited as a major impediment to improving the quality of education. California has the largest class size in the country, averaging about 26 students per classroom.

“This budget doesn’t solve that problem,” said Ed Foglia, president of the California Teachers Assn., the state’s largest teacher organization.

Urban Impact Aid

Deukmejian set aside $87 million in urban impact aid to large school districts that he said would be available depending on the outcome of a state task force study on the formula used to allocate the special funds.

Last year the governor eliminated the entire appropriation--a particular blow to the Los Angeles district, which was in line to receive the largest chunk of money. It was eventually restored.

For the nine campuses of the University of California, the governor proposed that the state’s portion of the operating budget should be about $2.4 billion, an increase of 6.7% over the current year. The UC regents had asked for a hike of more than 10%, but UC President David P. Gardner said Thursday that he was pleased, nevertheless, saying Deukmejian’s budget “maintains our momentum of recent years while allowing for some modest improvements.”

Student Fee Increase

Under the governor’s proposals, in-state student academic fees at UC campuses would increase by about $60 to $1,434 a year, excluding other costs such as parking and housing. The budget estimates a total UC enrollment of 147,095 students in the 1988-89 fiscal year, 3,565 more students than this year.

The governor also proposed $2 million for affirmative-action programs at the University of California, including a new effort to retain minority undergraduates and prepare them for graduate-level work.

UC faculty salaries would rise by 3% and non-faculty pay by 4% in January, 1989.

The operating budget of the Cal State system would rise 6.8% next year under the governor’s plan, compared to the 14.2% requested by the 19-campus system. Excluding building programs to be funded by bond issues, the state portion of that budget would be $1.88 billion.

Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds said in a prepared statement that the governor’s recommendations had its “positive aspects” but added that she hoped more money would be allocated during the budget revisions in May.

The governor agreed with Cal State trustees and called for increases in student academic fees. A full-time, in-state student would pay $684 next year, $54 more than the current cost. That does not include a host of other expenses, such as parking or housing. The budget projects that Cal State will have about 354,000 students next year, a growth of 2% over this year.

Cal State faculty salaries would increase 4.7% and non-faculty wages would increase up to 4% next year under Deukmejian’s plan.

The governor called for $2.2 billion for the 106 two-year community college campuses. That is a 6.4% increase over this year. The board of governors of the community college system asked for a 16% increase.

Private universities and colleges have been pushing for an increase in the size of the Cal Grant scholarships that their students can receive. The governor asked that those awards be raised 24% to a maximum of $5,400 in hopes that will ease enrollment pressures at public colleges.

Elaine Woo reported from Sacramento and Larry Gordon from Los Angeles.