Democrats Ask for School Boost

Upping the ante on Gov. Gray Davis, the Democrats who control the state Assembly presented their own plan to bolster education spending Tuesday, proposing $1.4 billion more than Davis has advocated for schools, community colleges and college scholarships.

Led by Assembly Speaker-elect Bob Hertzberg of Sherman Oaks, Democrats in the lower house said that in light of California’s growing budget surplus, they want to spend $1 billion more on kindergarten through 12th-grade education than the Democratic governor has proposed.

Furthermore, Hertzberg said, they support even greater increases if revised budget figures due out next month forecast an even bigger surplus than anticipated.

“This is an opening bid,” Hertzberg said.

The financially cautious Davis has caught heat from the teachers’ lobby and members of his own party for proposing an increase for kindergarten through 12th grade of only $250 million more than what he is required to spend under Proposition 98. The 1988 ballot measure requires that at least 40% of the state’s budget be reserved for schools.

Asked Tuesday about the Assembly Democrats’ response, Davis said he will wait until the May budget revision to decide what increases he will put forward.

The Assembly Democrats’ plan would cut in half the gap between what California spends per pupil and the nationwide average. Most of the extra money, $750 million, would be in the form of discretionary funds that individual school districts could use for whatever purpose they saw fit--an element that is sure to be popular among school districts.

But it falls far short of demands by the California Teachers Assn. that the state increase its spending to match the nationwide average. Nevertheless, it was quickly embraced by CTA president Wayne Johnson as a good step forward.

“It shows a real commitment to funding California public schools,” Johnson said. “That is a giant step toward moving us to the national average. Rumors abound about how large this surplus is going to be. We’re talking about the education of six million children in this state.”

California currently ranks near the bottom nationwide in per-pupil spending, a distinction some educators and politicians have called embarrassing for a state once widely admired for its public school system.

The increase proposed by the Assembly is “the first deposit in making sure California’s education is the first and best throughout the world,” said Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes (D-Fresno).

Fearful of the cost, Davis has been reluctant to commit to entirely erasing the per-pupil spending gap, which has raised the wrath of the CTA. But Johnson said he dined with Davis Monday night, and is guardedly optimistic.

“We are in a stage now where it is a crucial time in those negotiations,” Johnson said. “What happens in the next six weeks is going to determine what kind of budget we have.”

Davis spokesman Michael Bustamante said the dinner involved little “shop talk,” adding that any suggestions Johnson and Davis have been feuding are overblown.

Assembly Democrats also called for boosting the budgets of California’s 107 community colleges by $300 million more than Davis wants, and expanding a college grant program for low income students.

The additional money for the CalGrant program comes on the heels of criticism that a different, merit-based scholarship proposal that is a cornerstone of Davis’ budget would not benefit the poor and minority students who need help the most. Expanding the grant program would achieve a long-standing goal in Sacramento of ensuring that at least one in every four graduating high school seniors gets a scholarship.

Democrats in the Senate support similar boosts in grants, and last week attached legislation increasing need-based scholarships to legislation on the governor’s merit scholarship plan.

Assembly Republicans, who also have criticized Davis and called for greater education spending, were warm to the Democrats’ proposal.

“We certainly are supportive of the additional community college dollars. It’s certainly close to what we support there,” said Assemblyman George Runner of Lancaster, the Assembly Republicans’ leader on budget issues. “We also support the increase in the scholarship program. That is the best way to make [college] more affordable.”

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Staff writer Dan Morain contributed to this story.