Blockade by GOP in Senate Delays School Money Bill

The Assembly fight over school financing spilled over into the Senate on Monday as GOP members in the upper chamber abruptly blocked passage of a major education finance bill.

Senate Republicans teamed up to reject a $650-million move to implement the first phase of Proposition 98, the school finance ballot initiative approved in November which guarantees education 40% of the budget.

The action threatened to further slow efforts of legislative leaders and Gov. George Deukmejian to negotiate a settlement by June 30 on how to divide a windfall of $2.5 billion in the current and next fiscal years.

The $650-million bill represented the initial disbursement of funds from the windfall.

Senate Republicans demanded that none of the money be earmarked for teacher salaries and that major education programs receive no new cost-of-living increases. They proposed, basically, that the money be turned over to local districts for such items as purchase of buses and instructional materials, renting temporary buildings and installing air conditioning in classrooms.

Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), author of the measure, conceded that it does not satisfy everybody but urged that the bill be sent to the Assembly for further amendments as part of the overall negotiating process on major unresolved fiscal issues.

Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) charged that the GOP proposal to bar money for teacher salary increases would “throw the bomb” on the recently settled Los Angeles teachers’ strike and would return negotiations with Deukmejian to “ground zero.”

The bill failed on a 23-11 vote, four short of the 27 votes required. It will be eligible for a second attempt at passage Thursday.

Last week, Assembly Republicans charged that suburban and rural school districts are being “cheated” because large urban districts such as Los Angeles Unified are getting more than their fair share of the unexpected money.

To press their point, they blocked passage of the Assembly version of the nearly $50-billion state budget, a move that put the brakes on negotiating a settlement on school finance, improving transportation and relaxing strict spending limits on state and local governments.

Discovery of the mammoth windfall by the Deukmejian Administration last month was hailed at first as the fiscal blessing needed to avert deep budget cuts proposed by the governor in January. It was widely regarded as a bonanza for solving many of the state’s financial problems.

Deukmejian and legislative leaders of both sides immediately got down to the happy business of negotiating how distribute the new-found wealth.

The task must be accomplished by June 30 or the new money for the remaining three weeks of the current fiscal year, about $1.1 billion, will be divided, with education receiving 40% and the remainder being earmarked for income taxpayer rebates sometime in the future.