State Board Withdraws Its Support of School-Funding Ballot Initiative

The state Board of Education, under pressure from Gov. George Deukmejian, voted Friday to rescind its earlier endorsement of a school-funding proposal that education interests hope to place on the November ballot.

The ballot initiative’s sponsors include the California Teachers Assn., state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig and the state PTA.

The vote to rescind the endorsement was unanimous.

The 10 board members, all of whom were appointed by Deukmejian, voted to endorse the initiative in February. In rescinding that action Friday, the board scheduled a hearing in May to hear arguments on both sides and possibly vote again.

Board member Perry Dyke, who recommended that the endorsement be withdrawn, said:

“We had been getting lots of different information from different groups saying that we had made the decision (to endorse) too hastily. Most of us felt that was accurate, that we really hadn’t heard a full presentation from both sides. We went back to a neutral position.”

Phone Calls Made

The board action Friday came after Peter G. Mehas, Deukmejian’s education adviser, made phone calls to board members saying the governor was unhappy with the endorsement of the ballot measure, sources told The Times.

Mehas refused to comment on the reports that he contacted individual board members.

But he did say Deukmejian has always believed that boards he appoints should not take actions on issues like ballot measures before knowing the governor’s position.

Mehas also said he was pleased with the board’s action Friday, saying it “is consistent with our policy.”

Deukmejian so far has not taken a position on the initiative, which would guarantee that California’s public kindergarten through high schools receive at least 38.9% of the state’s general budget.

On Friday, The Times obtained a mysterious memo mailed to some board members in late March saying: “In case you did not receive the word through other channels--Gov’s unhappy with the board.”

‘Go Neutral’

The memo was initialed by what appears to be the letter “M.” It went on to say that the board needed to “go neutral on the CTA (class-size) initiative.”

Written in a rough kind of political shorthand, the memo also appeared to anticipate the announced resignation Friday of board Executive Director Greg Geeting, saying the panel should “retain” a top staffer who “is Republican/conservative.”

In addition, it said the board should “clear legislator appearances, major issues, with the Gov’s office.” The warning about “legislator appearances” seemed to be a reference to an invitation the board had extended to Democratic Speaker Willie Brown to talk on education issues.

The brief memo closes with the warning “Travel/activity is at stake--don’t ignore,” which sources interpreted as a threat that the board’s travel budget would be reduced unless the actions spelled out in the communique were taken.

‘Bizarre’ Communication

Mehas, cited by board sources as the possible author because his last name starts with an “M,” denied writing the memo. He called the communication “bizarre” and said it was silly to think the governor would threaten to cut the board’s travel budget.

“The governor does not communicate with his appointees that way,” he said. “That is not our style. Why would we threaten the travel budget? They are our own appointees.”

Board member Dyke refused to answer any questions about the memo.

Superintendent Honig said he was disappointed that the board rescinded its action. “I argued against it,” he said.

Honig said he believes the action was in part due to pressure from the governor’s office. “I am sure there were some contacts there. What form it took I don’t know,” he said. Honig said he was aware of the memo but had not seen it.