Clinton Vows to Fight Education Cuts : Politics: Speaking in San Bernardino, President defends his policies and pledges to counter GOP attack on student loans and other aid.

President Clinton, in an effort to defend his education policies against the aggressive GOP majority in Congress, charged Tuesday that Republicans want to “cut and gut” education so taxes can be reduced for the rich.

Clinton, speaking before university officials in San Francisco in the morning and students and faculty at San Bernardino Valley College in the afternoon, highlighted what he described as his fundamental differences in education philosophy with the Republican leadership in Congress.

The President spoke in a Valley College gymnasium that was packed with students and families who braved three-hour lines and a steady rain to hear the President extol his education programs and score Republican attempts to repeal them.

He told the enthusiastic crowd that education was the key to survival in a rapidly changing economy, an oft-repeated Clinton message and one that was well received by many in the crowd.

One of them, Vicki Kuehn of San Bernardino, enrolled in a criminal justice administration program at the community college when it became clear that she could not support her disabled husband and five children on a high school graduate’s income.

“I think his programs are excellent,” Kuehn said. “I know what the Republicans are trying to do and I’m against it 100%.”

The President said his proposals would reduce the cost of student loans, make college and trade school more accessible to working families, encourage volunteer work in exchange for tuition grants and strengthen the federal Department of Education.

Republicans want to limit or eliminate these programs as part of their overall plan to reduce federal spending and finance tax cuts.

Clinton vowed to oppose Republicans attempts to:

* Limit the program that allows students to receive tuition loans directly from colleges and adjusts repayment terms to a student’s ability to pay.

* Eliminate the subsidy that waives interest payments on student loans until the student has left college and joined the work force.

* Dismantle the AmeriCorps national service program that provides tuition assistance in exchange for minimum-wage volunteer work.

* Abolish the Department of Education. Clinton said the federal agency is as vital to the nation’s future as the Defense Department is to the national security.

* Cut capital gains taxes and institute other tax breaks for the wealthy. Clinton instead proposes a per-child tax credit and a tax deduction of as much as $10,000 for education expenses for middle-class families.

* Reduce funding for the Head Start program, which prepares preschool-age poor youngsters for kindergarten.

“To all of this, I say no,” Clinton told the annual meeting of the American Council on Education in San Francisco. “I will fight these proposals every step of the way.”

The council’s leaders said they were pleased with the speech because it highlighted Clinton’s plans to help the middle class while reaffirming his commitment to need-based financial aid for low-income students.

Barry Munitz, chancellor of the California State University system and vice chairman of the council’s board of directors, said Clinton’s pledge to protect so-called Pell grants for needy college students, work-study programs and deferred-interest student loans was a key element that council leaders had hoped to hear.

“Our hope (was) that the middle-class tax deduction not come at the expense of the other key need-based pieces that are already in the federal program,” Munitz said. “We were all pleased to see the full package there without an implication of trading off or setting priorities.”

Munitz added that it now falls to educators to help rally public support for Clinton’s agenda. “The responsibility now is in the hands of the higher education community to respond to the challenge. If it doesn’t get done now, it’s as much our fault as his fault,” Munitz said.

Clinton’s appearances Tuesday were part of a concerted White House strategy to make clear to the American people what he and his Administration stand for and are prepared to fight for.

Clinton and his top advisers concluded in the wake of November’s electoral debacle that Clinton must “lay down some markers” and pick some fights with Republicans if he hopes to capitalize on their errors and make a case for his reelection next year.

There also is a White House calculation that, even if he cannot halt the GOP legislative steamroller, he can win political points with the public on the issues of schools, crime, taxes and abortion rights. On Saturday, for example, he threatened to veto Republican efforts to rewrite provisions in the 1994 crime bill funding 100,000 new local police officers.

Clinton and his spokesmen have been increasingly strident in their defense of surgeon general nominee Henry W. Foster Jr., accusing Republicans of being unduly influenced by abortion foes.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Tuesday that the Administration would staunchly resist Republican attempts to limit the President’s power to commit U.S. forces to international peacekeeping operations.

And Clinton is drawing sharp contrasts between his vision of welfare reform and that of the Republicans.

Clinton’s only previous explicit veto threat--last year’s State of the Union vow to veto any health care legislation that did not provide universal coverage--proved vain because no health bill cleared the last Congress.

Today, Clinton is scheduled to participate in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament in Indians Wells, Calif. The President will tee off with Hope, former Republican Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush and last year’s tournament winner, pro golfer Scott Hoch.

Times staff writer Amy Wallace contributed to this story from San Francisco.