THE TIMES POLL : Most Call School Funding Vital but Split on Tax Hike

The vast majority of Californians think that educating children should be the state’s top spending priority, but they are divided over whether taxes should be raised to help schools, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Half the public regards California’s school system as already inadequate, the survey showed. And the sentiment for shielding education from budget cuts is broad-based, covering all political stripes and even a slim majority of the elderly with no children in school.

People are more polarized, however, over their willingness to pay higher taxes for education or any other public service. Democrats indicate that they would not mind digging deeper, but Republicans generally oppose the idea--competing views reflected in the positions of their respective political leaders in Sacramento.

Still, in the wake of the worst state fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, the public seems less opposed to tax hikes than a year ago.

School financing was the main sticking point in Sacramento’s summer budget brawl, a fight that infuriated the public. People told Times interviewers that they were angry about the agonizing delay in passing a state budget, unhappy with the final compromise and upset about the program cuts.

Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature have fallen to new lows in public esteem, the survey showed. They are blamed equally for the state’s ongoing budget problems, but the fault attributed to the governor has risen noticeably as his tenure in office has lengthened.

Californians also are frustrated with their quality of life, according to interviews. A majority rate the state no better than average when compared to other regions of the country.

Contributing to the general gloominess is pessimism about the short-term prospects for California’s recession-plagued economy, with 83% expecting no improvement in the next three months.

The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, interviewed 1,695 California adults by telephone for four days ending Sunday night. Among those surveyed were 1,330 registered voters. The margin of error for all those interviewed, as well as the registered voters separately, is 3 percentage points in either direction.

This was the most comprehensive poll of California public opinion since Wilson and the Legislature called a truce and enacted a $57.4-billion state budget Sept. 2, more than two months past the legal deadline.

The historic budget stalemate forced state government to pay many of its bills with IOUs for the first time since the Depression. Thousands of vendors doing business with the state were not paid at all during the impasse. The state piled up almost $10 million in short-term interest costs for the scrip and an estimated $200 million in additional long-term debt for bond financing because of reduced credit ratings.

The paralysis at the state Capitol formed an ugly picture in the public’s mind, the Times survey showed.

Eighty percent of those interviewed said they were “angry” about the governor and the Legislature not reaching a budget agreement until 63 days past the deadline. Half were “very” angry.

Sixty percent disapproved of the final product: a budget designed to cover a $10.7-billion revenue shortfall by sharply cutting spending for health care, welfare, higher education and many other programs, including aid to local governments. Public schools were allowed to continue spending the same amount per pupil--without any adjustment for inflation--but only by borrowing against funding in future years.

Wilson achieved his goal of avoiding both a general state tax increase and deficit financing. But two-thirds of those surveyed said they were “angry” about the budget cuts, including half of Wilson’s fellow Republicans.

And a sizable number of people, 45%, said they personally expect to be hurt by the government cutbacks. Those especially expecting to be hurt were teachers, blacks, Latinos, young people and parents. Those not expecting to be harmed by the cuts included most of the elderly and people without children.

Roughly one-quarter of those surveyed said they receive some sort of direct assistance from the state, mainly for medical care. Women outnumbered men by 3 to 2 in this recipient group. In fact, half of all single women with children receive aid, according to the survey. Also among the recipients there were as many young people--presumably many of them receiving college assistance--as elderly, and as many residing in rural areas as in the cities.

Those interviewed were asked which state program “should not be cut or should be cut the least” whenever cutbacks are required. Two volunteered answers were allowed. The overwhelming majority of people--66%--listed education as their top spending priority. Nothing else came close, with health care in second place at 22%, followed by welfare, 12%, public safety, 10%, and services for the elderly, 9%.

But paying for education was another matter, reflecting the public’s age-old dilemma: It wants good government services but resists the taxes to finance them.

When people were asked whether they “would be willing to pay extra state or local taxes in order to restore” funding cuts for education, the answer was a virtually even split: 48% yes, 47% no. The split was along political party lines: 60% of Democrats were willing to pay higher taxes, but 56% of Republicans objected to the idea.

Even among people with children in public school, only half favored higher taxes to finance education.

But there now is less opposition to tax hikes than last year, when Wilson and the Legislature raised taxes by nearly $8 billion to balance that budget.

People were asked what they considered to be “the greater danger for California--that state spending has been cut to the point where essential government services are threatened, or that taxes have been raised to the point where people can’t handle the burden.” Again, there was an even split among all those interviewed--43% to 43%--with Democrats viewing program cuts as the biggest threat and Republicans far more alarmed about taxes.

In a Times survey last December, 58% of those interviewed thought higher taxes were the bigger threat. Only 27% were alarmed about program cuts.

In this poll, half the public rated the quality of state services as adequate or better, but 43% said they were inadequate or worse.

Wilson’s decisions about budget cuts further damaged his already-low popularity, the survey showed. Forty-four percent of the people said they now looked upon the governor “less favorably” because of his actions, and only 17% viewed him more favorably.

Wilson’s job rating is at an all-time low, based on various Times surveys. Only 33% of the registered voters approve of how he is handling his job as governor, while 62% disapprove. Last May, the figures were 43% to 52%.

But the Democratic-controlled Legislature, as an institution, can take little comfort in the Republican governor’s misfortune. Its marks also are at an all-time low, based on Times polls. Just 11% approve of the Legislature’s job performance, while 78% disapprove.

In affixing blame for California’s budget problems, the public looks to political leaders rather than situations or conditions, such as the recession or government waste, the poll showed. The governor and the Legislature were faulted about equally. Last December, when Wilson had been in office less than a year, the Legislature was blamed more than he was.

THE TIMES POLL: The State Budget

California voters are unhappy with the state budget compromise and the long delay in passing it, a Times poll shows. Gov. Pete Wilson’s approval rating has fallen to a record low.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Pete Wilson is handling his job as governor? (Responses of registered voters only.)

9/13/92 5/19/92 12/10/91 Approve 33% 43% 38% Disapprove 62 52 55 Don’t Know 5 5 7

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the California Legislature is handling its job? (Responses of registered voters only.)

9/13/92 12/10/91 Approve 11% 25% Disapprove 78 63 Don’t Know 11 12

In your opinion, who or what is most responsible for California’s budget problems? (Two volunteered replies accepted; responses of registered voters only.)

9/13/92 12/10/91 Gov. Pete Wilson 33% 20% State Legislature 29 34 House Speaker Willie Brown 8 1 Waste/Mismanagement 6 4 Recession/Bad Economy 6 9

What is the greater danger for California right now: cuts that threaten government programs and services, or taxes that are too high? (All respondents.)

9/13/92 12/10/91 5/21/91 Programs Threatened 43% 27% 31% Taxes Too Burdensome 43 58 60 Don’t Know 14 15 9

Source: Los Angeles Times poll of 1,695 adults in California, including 1,330 registered voters, taken Sept. 10-13. Margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll interviewed 1,695 California adults, including 1,330 registered voters, by telephone Sept. 10-13. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the state. Random-digit dialing techniques were used to ensure that both listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. Interviewing was conducted in either English or Spanish. Results were weighted slightly to conform to census figures for sex, race, age, education and household size. The margin of sampling error for the total samples of adults and registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin is somewhat higher. Poll results may also be influenced by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are asked.