Davis’ Message: He’ll Be Tight With Taxpayers’ Bucks

Gov. Gray Davis delivered two simple messages in his second State of the State Address Wednesday: His top priority will continue to be improving California’s schools. But not even school improvement is so urgent that it justifies a tax increase.

The centrist Democrat will try to give the people what he believes they want: Steadily improved schools without pocketbook pain.

This was the key paragraph, two-thirds into Davis’ address, words that will be scrutinized by education, business and taxpayer groups:

“Let us keep in mind that our economy has blessed us with vast new revenues and that the people of California rightfully expect us to invest the lion’s share in education. And we will. But to those who propose education measures that would require massive tax hikes beyond the record revenues already flowing to the state, I remind you that I believe in working within the resources the economy provides us. And that’s what I intend to do.”

Davis can read polls. They all show that education continues to be citizens’ No. 1 concern. For example, a December survey by pollster Mark Baldassare for the Public Policy Institute of California found 28% of respondents listing education as the “most important” issue facing the governor and Legislature. Far back at No. 2 was immigration with 8%, just ahead of crime and health care.

But Davis also has learned the lessons of history. He’s not about to be branded--ever--a “tax and spend liberal.” Even for schools, his “first and foremost” priority.

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What this means in the year 2000 is that while Davis is strongly supporting one ballot initiative for schools, he’s adamantly opposed to another being readied for the November election.

The governor long has favored reducing the two-thirds vote requirement for local school bonds--financed by property taxes--to a simple majority. That proposal is on the March 7 ballot as Prop. 26 and is backed by a broad coalition of education and business interests.

But Davis and many of the same business interests are opposed to a second initiative being sponsored by the California Teachers Assn. It would require California to raise its per-pupil spending to the national average. We now rank somewhere in the lower third. Getting up to average could cost $5 billion annually.

“It took us 30 years to get in this mess and we can’t climb out of it overnight without a massive tax increase,” Davis told me. “I’m not going that route.”

Davis says the new budget he’ll propose Monday will contain a $5.1-billion bump in education money, $250 million more than he’s legally obligated to spend.

“But throwing money at the problem is not the way to solve it,” he says, sounding like a Republican. “We’re using marketplace incentives. We live in a very materialistic society. If students, teachers and schools excel, we’ll reward them.”

In his address, Davis outlined a broad range of dollar incentives--scholarships and bonuses for students and teachers.

The governor also proposed a huge expansion of the university-developed teacher retraining that he initiated last year.

“We have the most ambitious teacher training program in America--not this rinky-dinky in-service staff days,” he asserted in the interview. “You know, this rinky-dink BS [that schools] have now where they hire some third-party trainer and go to an auditorium for a day and drink coffee. You ever been to one of these things? People are just laughin’ and scratchin’.”

“Ours is no-nonsense, challenging, rigorous academic training.”

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Davis’ jitters about anything smacking of a tax hike also threaten a proposed ballot measure by Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) that would make it easier to raise local sales taxes to finance sorely needed road projects. The measure would lower the local vote requirement from two-thirds to a simple majority. Insiders expect there’ll be a compromise.

In his address, meanwhile, Davis accused local governments of hoarding state and federal transportation money. “While millions of Californians sit stranded in traffic, billions of highway dollars are languishing unspent in local coffers,” the governor charged. “My message is simple: Use it or lose it.”

If the locals don’t develop spending plans by July 31, Davis warned, the state will seize $1.7 billion for its own projects. “No longer can we afford to hit the snooze button.”

Tough. Tight with a buck. Small, sure steps--not risky leaps. That’s the crafted image and the reality.

Davis knows he’s lucky. The economy’s humming. Californians are upbeat. He’s popular. There’s a $3-billion budget surplus. His message to lawmakers: We’re awash in money. Let’s not press our luck by getting greedy and asking taxpayers for more.