Can’t Use Money as an Alibi Now, Schools Are Told

Declaring himself “very happy” with the accord reached on school funding, California Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig on Saturday said that schools--particularly in the Los Angeles Unified School District--will no longer be able to use money as an excuse for poor academic achievement.

Schools now will begin to receive their “fair share” of state revenues, he said. “From that standpoint, we’re very happy. Schools are going to get a big infusion of funds. Now we’ve got to go to work and use the money properly.”

The agreement between state lawmakers and Gov. George Deukmejian to implement Proposition 98, the voter-approved initiative that guarantees kindergarten through 12th grades a stable 40% share of state revenues, was part of an intricate budget package approved by the Legislature late Friday.

Gas Tax Issue

Honig said, however, that he and the state’s major parent, teacher and school administrator groups have not decided whether they can endorse one of the other key elements of the package--a 9-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase to pay for mass transit and street and highway expansions that will go before voters next June.

He said two proposals made by education interests had been rejected:

- Retaining the Proposition 98 provision that includes education’s share of surplus state money in school districts’ budget base. This would give the districts a bigger share of the overall state funding in future years.

- Stronger protections for school funding in recession years.

“To me, it was a small price to pay to get everyone on board,” Honig said. “But they wouldn’t do it. They made a mistake. They’re going to need our support.”

The schools chief said education’s endorsement of the gas tax hike may hinge on whether the Legislature assures sufficient money for school construction. The state construction fund will run out of money this month, leaving schools no option but to suspend building plans until next June, when a $1-billion school construction bond is scheduled to go before voters. Because of surging enrollments and lags in financing, the state currently faces a $3.5-billion backlog in school building projects, Honig said.

Overall, the budget provides about $16 billion for public elementary and secondary schools, which includes a flat 4.6% increase per student.

The Los Angeles school district will receive about $75 million in new money from Proposition 98. According to budget director Henry Jones, that will enable the district to pay for employee raises--including the 24% three-year increase for teachers and middle management and 16% two-year increase for top management--and stave off further budget cuts in 1989-90. The Los Angeles school board recently approved reductions totaling $43 million in order to turn in a balanced tentative budget of $3.8 billion.

Dropout ‘Clinics’

Programs funded in the state spending plan include $4 million to establish special dropout “clinics” in high schools and $10 million to strengthen education in the 7th and 8th grades, where state test scores have lagged in recent years. In addition, kindergarten-through-6th grades will share $15 million for school improvement projects.

The budget also includes $180 million to increase funding for rural and suburban school districts, which had long complained that outmoded school financing formulas shortchanged them in favor of big urban districts. Officials in the Los Angeles school district had vigorously fought the plan, complaining that it penalized districts with a disproportionate share of the state’s poor and hard-to-teach students.