Clinton to Sign School Gun Curb in Calif.

President Clinton will visit a troubled Bay Area high school today to dramatize his tough stance on school violence by signing an order that requires a cut-off of federal school aid to districts that do not expel gun-carrying pupils.

A $12.7-billion federal education aid bill signed Thursday by Clinton orders states to require expulsions of gun-carrying students. But the law specifies no penalty for districts that fail to carry out those policies and Clinton Administration officials fear that, without specific sanctions, some school districts may drag their feet in complying.

The signing will come in a one-day swing that is Clinton’s first visit to California in five months and that will bring him together with his party’s most visible--and embattled--California candidates, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown. Clinton will appear with Feinstein at Carlmont High School in Belmont and later is to attend an evening fund-raiser for Brown in San Francisco.

The school-violence directive continues a recent series of campaign-season events in which Clinton has tried to emphasize his concern about education and crime--two issues that the polls show are now foremost on voters’ minds.

Clinton talked Monday to a police chiefs convention on youth crime and three days later signed the schools bill in a ceremony in Framingham, Mass., with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Carlmont High was chosen for today’s event because it plays to what is considered to be one of Feinstein’s stronger issues. She was co-sponsor of the law requiring expulsion of pupils who bring firearms to school.

Feinstein sought to add language to the bill that explicitly would have cut off federal aid to districts that failed to comply. The clause was cut out as House-Senate conferees reconciled differing versions of the legislation, but its removal did not mean that the government was barred from imposing the sanctions administratively through the Department of Education, as Clinton’s order will do.

Many districts are moving toward stiffer penalties for students who bring guns to classes. But only California and Michigan so far have the blanket expulsion rules, called “zero tolerance” policies, according to the Children’s Defense Fund.

About one in 20 high school students carries a gun to school, according to a 1990 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Clinton is expected to point out in his remarks today that two children are killed with guns in California every day.

“The single most important thing we can do to improve education for everyone in this country is to make schools safe,” according to a draft of Clinton’s prepared remarks.

Clinton’s appearance will put him in the midst of a cross-fire, which began before he had even left Washington.

Rep. Mike Huffington (R-Santa Barbara), who as Feinstein’s opponent has played up her ties to Clinton, sought to turn the tables on the visit. “I sent him a free ticket to come out to California,” Huffington said in an interview. “He wants to keep Feinstein in office so that, when he wants to raise taxes again or have a government controlled health care plan, he has somebody to support him.”

For her part, Feinstein insisted that she does not believe Clinton’s popularity has declined in California. “And I’m really very proud he is going to sign this executive order tomorrow and I’m proud to be with him when he does it,” she said.

A recent Los Angeles Times Poll showed that Clinton’s approval rating had risen to 49% in California, making the electorally crucial state one in which his support is strongest.

Times staff writer David Lesher in Los Angeles contributed to this story.