Villaraigosa Urges Freezing DMV Fee Cuts to Fund Schools

Seeking a bridge between the governor and teachers unions on education spending, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday proposed rerouting $2.5 billion a year to schools.

The money would come directly out of car owners’ pockets by means of a freeze on decreases expected in 2002 in vehicle registration fees.

Such an expenditure would bring California about halfway to the national per-pupil average in education spending. And the speaker’s approach would avoid a state tax increase, which Gov. Gray Davis has said he opposes.

“There’s a concern right now that we should go a little slower,” Villaraigosa said. “I think that this is the way we address both competing concerns: that we live within our means . . . but at the same time reorient our priorities.”

Leaders of the Assembly’s Republicans predicted that Villaraigosa’s effort will fall flat in the Legislature, where--because the speaker proposed it as a constitutional amendment--it would require a two-thirds vote to pass. From there it would go to the November ballot.

The measure is “dead on arrival,” said Assembly Minority Leader Scott Baugh.

He predicted that Villaraigosa would fail to gain any Republican support and might well come up short on votes from moderate Democrats facing reelection this year. Villaraigosa said he had been assured of solid Democratic support and that “education is not a partisan issue.”

The vehicle license fee--folded into annual car, truck and motorcycle registration charges--has long been a political lightning rod.

Gubernatorial hopeful Dan Lungren last year planned to make its abolition part of his platform. But Gov. Pete Wilson undermined him. In August 1998, Wilson signed into law a tax cut that included a 25% reduction in the fee, about $150 for the average two-car family.

If state surpluses continue, the reduction would grow to 67% by 2003. Last year, Davis accelerated the second phase of the cut, reducing fees another 10% for this year.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) has led the charge to abolish the fees. On Wednesday, he criticized Democrats for agreeing to the fee cut in 1998 only because it appeared then that state surpluses would not trigger future reductions.

Now “everyone wants a part of it,” he said.

The California Teachers Assn. is circulating petitions to put on the November ballot a measure that would increase state education spending to the national average. The legislative analyst’s office estimates California will spend about $6,400 per student this year, compared to the national average of about $6,900.

If approved by the Legislature, Villaraigosa’s proposal would land on the same ballot. Villaraigosa said he hopes the teachers union will consider withdrawing its initiative or compromising on a version everyone can support.

The governor’s spokesman, Michael Bustamante, would not comment on whether Davis will support the vehicle license fee freeze.

On Wednesday, teachers association Vice President Barbara Kerr said that so far the group plans to continue its march toward the ballot, and that its state council will make a decision on whether to also support Villaraigosa’s plan later this month.

But Kerr lauded Villaraigosa for being “a good friend” of teachers and said his move is a welcome change from those who “use the scare tactic of higher taxes.” Davis has said he will oppose the teachers’ initiative if it means a tax increase.

Bob Wells, executive director of the Assn. of California School Administrators, said he also finds it encouraging that the national average has become such a key part of the conversation about education spending, though he said that doesn’t go far enough.

“The state closest to the average is Wyoming,” Wells said. “Our needs . . . are dramatically higher.”

In a year when California’s booming economy means state government is awash in $6 billion more than it expected, Kerr and Wells said, education should be able to reap rewards without additional taxes.