School Cuts Not Enough, Wilson Says : Budget: Governor vetoes bill after Assembly approves $600 million in reductions. Educators say his plan to pare $1.9 billion would be devastating.

As Gov. Pete Wilson battles with Democrats and state schools Supt. Bill Honig over next year’s education budget, a key question remains: At what point do proposed cuts begin to hit classrooms and damage educational quality across the state?

Honig says that point was reached when the Assembly on Wednesday approved $600 million in reductions for elementary and secondary schools and community colleges.

But Wilson vetoed that bill Thursday, saying the cuts were insufficient.

“I am unwilling to fund education programs, however deserving, at a level that will require the state to close our universities, release dangerous felons from prison, eliminate vital health and welfare programs and bankrupt local governments,” the governor said in his veto message.

One possible compromise would be for the state to cut the entire $1.9 billion from elementary and secondary schools that Wilson is seeking but then lend back about half of the money for the 1992-93 fiscal year. Under this scenario, advanced by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), schools would repay the loan during the 1993-94 fiscal year.

After a meeting with Wilson on Thursday, Brown said the governor and Republican lawmakers were exploring the possibilities of such a loan.

“They clearly wanted to talk again about schools,” Brown said.

But Dan Schnur, Wilson’s communications director, said the governor is not considering the loan plan because he considers it is a disguised form of deficit financing.

Administration sources say public schools can absorb at least $1 billion in cuts next year, “without hemorrhaging too badly.”

About $250 million will be saved because statewide enrollment is expected to fall about 70,000 short of expectations next year. Other savings include $200 million from an education reserve fund that has been eliminated; $320 million from a 1.5% cost-of-living increase that has gone by the boards, and $250 million or more in program augmentations--additional money for activities that are under way.

The program augmentations that would be eliminated include $37.7 million for summer school, $37 million in deferred maintenance, $28 million for the first year of a statewide restructuring program that would place more decision-making authority at local school sites, $24 million to improve teachers’ skills in specific academic areas, and $15 million for textbooks and other instructional materials.

Even the governor’s “prevention initiatives,” programs of which he is especially proud, probably will have to do without additional money next year.

These include more money for Head Start, for early mental health counseling and for Healthy Start, which tries to coordinate educational, health and social services at one location.

Honig insists that the schools cannot stand $1 billion in cuts next year.

“The districts have been cutting, based on the governor’s January budget,” he said in an interview. “If the Administration’s argument is correct, and these aren’t real cuts, why are the districts cutting already?”

The schools chief said California ranks 34th among the states in per-pupil spending in the annual National Education Assn. survey. “We’ll be near the bottom, down with Louisiana and Mississippi,” if Wilson’s cuts are approved, he said.

Honig said Wilson’s January budget “was very strong on the schools” but added, “now we’re dealing with a different man . . . a governor who is playing to the right wing and is willing to hurt the schools to do it.”

Beyond $1 billion, cuts in kindergarten through 12th grade spending “become very difficult,” said an adviser to the Wilson Administration who asked not to be identified.

However, cuts might include the “mentor teachers” program ($73.8 million), Miller-Unruh reading specialists ($22.4 million), and the gifted and talented program ($34 million).

Also on the endangered list are educational technology ($14 million) and the state’s new pupil testing program, budgeted for $13.8 million next year.

Another Administration proposal is to group all of these special programs into one block grant and allow school districts to distribute the funds.

Another approach under consideration is to eliminate all funding for some expenditures, such as textbook purchases, staff development and home-to-school transportation.

The Administration is studying whether to limit kindergarten to youngsters born before Sept. 1, instead of Dec. 1. This would save $300 million to $350 million, Administration sources said.

“That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” Honig said. “That’s an anti-Head Start program. I guess you’d call it ‘slow start.’ The research shows that kids need language and social development at an early age, especially poor kids. That cut would be unconscionable.”

Community colleges may be asked to take less than their usual 10% share of guaranteed funds and make up the difference--$300 million to $350 million--through higher fees.

Another possibility is to require kindergarten teachers to teach all day, instead of the half-day sessions most now handle. This would produce a substantial salary savings, but it would violate some collective bargaining agreements.