Honig Accused of Lax Administration Over State’s School System

Members of the Little Hoover Commission sharply criticized state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig for alleged lax administration over the state school system Tuesday during a contentious hearing into fiscal accountability.

Chairman Nathan Shapell, the combative leader of what is formally known as the Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, complained that public schools this year will spend $19 billion with very little oversight by the state, even though the Legislature and governor will supply 70% of the schools’ operating funds.

The attack reflected the growing frustration in Sacramento with what many officials--Democratic as well as Republican--see as an increasingly powerful and rich school system.

Symbols of the schools’ new clout are Proposition 98, a landmark initiative voters approved in November that guarantees schools a 40% share of the state general fund of $36 billion; the 1984 lottery initiative, which gave schools a 34% of share of lottery revenues, and stiff fees that schools can charge real estate developers. The lottery is providing $760 million annually for schools, and developer fees are kicking in $250 million.

Shapell placed most of the responsibility for alleged lax controls on Democrat Honig.

Shapell, a Los Angeles real estate developer who was appointed to the watchdog commission by Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), said he would like to see school districts consolidated, surplus school property sold off and a “czar” appointed in Sacramento to run the entire statewide system. He called the current system of giving autonomy to each of the state’s far-flung 1,023 school districts “pure insanity.”

Honig, in turn, accused Shapell and other commissioners of not doing their homework, misstating facts and being politically motivated.

The school chief said he has made “substantial progress” in putting a new accounting system in place.

“I don’t agree with you that there is a crisis out there in financial management,” Honig told Shapell. “The vast, vast majority of expenditures are done in a proper way and within limits, and we have a system in place to catch the ones that aren’t.”

Shapell made frequent mention of the new revenue going to schools, complaining that while responsibility for school budgets had shifted to state government, school operations were still controlled locally.

At one point, Honig shot back that he favored local control and asserted that voters “don’t want Sacramento involved--for good reason.” Honig repeatedly has charged that schools in recent years have been shortchanged by budgets approved by Gov. George Deukmejian and the Legislature.

During the hearing, Honig was frequently cut off and interrupted by members of the commission. The combatants pointed fingers at one another and slammed their hands down on tables to punctuate their arguments as they heated up the air with charges and countercharges.

The sharpest exchanges occurred between Honig and Shapell and Mary Anne Chalker, a Los Angeles insurance broker appointed to the commission by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Chalker criticized Honig for taking the position that it is not the state superintendent’s job to control spending by local school districts.

“We feel that you’re the guy at the top, and you should in fact control spending when it is inappropriate. Obviously, we think there is a lot of inappropriate spending,” said Chalker, who did not elaborate on what kind of spending she considered unsuitable.

Chalker urged Honig to take a leadership position in pushing to keep schools open all year to take full advantage of facilities.

Honig accused Chalker of not getting her facts straight.

“If you do your homework and look at the record, you would know that I have been one of the leading advocates for year-round education,” he said.