Rebate Funds Go to Schools; Veto Probable

The Senate on Thursday voted final passage of a bill providing an extra $700 million for public schools. The bill goes to Gov. George Deukmejian, who is almost certain to veto it because he wants to use the money for tax rebates.

During an especially nasty floor debate that broke along party lines, one Democrat accused Deukmejian of “lying” to Californians about the money and a Republican accused state schools Supt. Bill Honig of having “sold out” to Democrats to politicize the issue of education financing.

The fast-track measure, which cleared the Assembly on Wednesday, was approved by the Senate on a 25-12 vote with two Republicans--Sens. William A. Craven of Oceanside and Becky Morgan of Los Altos Hills--joining Democrats in voting “aye.” One Democrat, Sen. Joseph B. Montoya of Whittier, voted with Republicans against the bill.

Deukmejian has adamantly opposed the Democratic plan, calling it an “insincere exercise and a charade.” Warned Senate GOP Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno: “This bill is going to stop at the governor’s desk and be vetoed.”

Deukmejian, however, did sign Thursday a compromise bill restoring $71.5 million in school aid that he vetoed out of the current state budget last year. The governor had a change of heart about the money, he noted in signing the measure, “because of the strong performance of our economy and some additional unanticipated revenues.”

Money under the bill, by Assemblyman Teresa P. Hughes (D-Los Angeles), will be spent on programs for economically disadvantaged students in big-city schools, for busing students in sparsely populated rural districts and for community colleges. For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the bill will provide $18.8 million. Los Angeles community colleges will get $7.8 million.

Democrats, however, suggested that without the additional $700 million that the governor wants to return to taxpayers, the sweeping reforms of public education enacted in 1983 would be jeopardized.

“Simply because the governor wants a tax rebate, we should not force the schools to fall further and further behind in the reforms,” asserted Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles).

“We cannot continue to shortchange our children to put a few extra pennies into the pockets of the taxpayers.”

The $700 million that Deukmejian wants returned to income taxpayers is the lion’s share of a windfall of $1.1 billion in unexpected state revenue earned this year. The balance of $400 million has been proposed by the governor for cost-of-living increases in the public schools, to help fight toxic contamination and for AIDS research and education.

Deukmejian estimates the rebate would mean about $95 per taxpayer.

Honig and Democrats, however, have insisted that a $700-million rebate--however politically sexy--would return only meager funds to individual taxpayers, while it would provide major relief for financially hard-hit schools and the community college system.

The sum represents what Deukmejian maintains is in excess of the state’s spending limit under a 1979 ballot initiative that imposed appropriation restrictions on state and local governments, including school districts. Deukmejian argues that the initiative requires the excess to be rebated, a point sharply disputed by Democrats.

“Baloney,” declared Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) of Deukmejian’s stance. “The governor better stop lying to the people of California.”

Garamendi’s unusually harsh rhetoric on the Senate floor brought a sharp rebuke in kind from Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim).

‘A Politicized Issue’

“I wish a lot of the Democrats, particularly Dr. Honig, would quit lying to the public,” Seymour said. “I’m tired of hearing the governor bashed on education. . . . Dr. Honig has sold out to the Democrats in order to make this a politicized issue.”

Honig, who is speculatively talked about as a potential candidate for governor in 1990, once was a registered Democrat but switched his registration to decline-to-state (independent) before running in 1982 for superintendent of public instruction. That post is officially nonpartisan.

Under the bill by Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), which was quickly fashioned in the Assembly on Tuesday, the state funds would be immediately available for spending to the extent that the school or community college district could appropriate them without exceeding its spending limit.

Any funds in excess of the limit would be kept in an escrow account and be unavailable for expenditure unless voters in the district lifted the limit by Dec. 31, 1988. If the money was not made available for use by that date, it would be returned to the state general fund and eventually rebated to taxpayers.