Wilson Budgets $50,000 Grants to Public Schools

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday added to his planned education spending spree, vowing to hand every public school in the state $50,000 that can be spent on virtually anything the principal, teachers and parents can agree on--except to hire staff or raise salaries.

The money, totaling $387 million statewide, would go in equal sums to every kindergarten-through-12th grade school regardless of size or need. Although it would mean relatively little to large schools with multimillion-dollar budgets, it is expected to make a substantial difference at small campuses.

“I’ll take it!” said Steve Friedman, principal of Shirley Avenue Elementary School in Reseda.

Friedman said his first priority would be to install an air conditioning system in the school.

“We’ve got the most incredible computer lab, and there are days when you can’t even sit in it,” Friedman said.

Joe Aguirre, principal of Bertrand Avenue Elementary School in Reseda, said he wants to spend most of the money on computers. “Technology is important,” Aguirre said. “We’re trying to get on that information highway.”

Aguirre said, however, that any decision on how to spend the money would be made by the school’s leadership council.

The program, announced by Wilson at William E. Kettler Elementary School in Huntington Beach, is part of the revised 1996-97 budget that Wilson will submit today. With the state’s robust economy bringing in billions more in revenues than had been anticipated last August, Wilson finds himself in the unusual role of finding creative ways to spend the large portion of it he is required under state law to devote to education.

“I bring good news today,” Wilson told a class of second-graders, who presented him with a quilt decorated with book designs.

Some educators expressed doubts about whether the one-time grants would have a major impact on struggling schools. But the money--combined with several hundred million dollars that will go specifically for books, technology and other needs--clearly will be well-received.

Wilson said the one-time grants could be used to “buy a new roof, install computers on kids’ desks or slap a new coat of paint on the walls. Investing in our schools is the most important investment we can make as a society.”

The total increase from his January budget that Wilson will propose for schools and community colleges is $1.8 billion, to be paid for out of the higher-than-expected revenues to be reported in today’s budget revision.

The state Constitution’s school funding formula requires that schools reap the benefits of fat budget years to make up for the sacrifices of lean years, and this indeed appears to be a fat year for the state of California. But the non-education part of the state budget is targeted for deep new cuts because Wilson is continuing his support of a tax cut and his earlier budget proposal had counted on as much as $3 billion in revenues and savings that are now thought to be unlikely.

The tax cut, if it passes the Legislature, would cut $6 billion out of education spending over four years.

Rather than highlight the bad news, Wilson is focusing on education in more detail than he ever has since becoming governor.

In addition to the cash grants, Wilson is proposing to reduce the average number of pupils in first- and second-grade classes from 30 to 20 and to give schools more money for reading programs, books, repairs, supplies, computers and security. On Monday, Wilson emphasized that much of the money is related directly or indirectly to efforts to improve the state’s poor record of teaching children to read.

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“What we have here is a ‘no excuses’ blueprint for getting our schools back on track to teach kids what they’ll need to know to succeed in the global marketplace,” Wilson said.

Wilson administration officials said the new push on education fits with the governor’s philosophy that the role of government should be to help prevent problems by investing in preschool and child health programs. He proposed increases in both of those areas in his January budget.

The new proposals extend that philosophy into schools, by emphasizing the improvement of beginning reading and by seeking to reduce class sizes. The grant idea is consistent with Wilson’s view that most school priorities are best determined locally. His other proposals earmark money for specific purposes. One clear impact of the total spending package is to ensure that most of the money does not end up going for higher teacher salaries.

Day Higuchi, president-elect of the United Teachers-Los Angeles union, criticized the restriction against using any of the money for salaries, saying the governor should be “a little sensitive to the fact that our members have long been digging into their own pockets for classroom supplies.”

Los Angeles teachers have not had a raise in years; the contract agreement reached last year merely restored salaries to 1991 levels.

Higuchi described the idea of doling out cash grants of the same size to all schools as “a Robin Hood in reverse” that would particularly discriminate against needier urban districts, where schools are typically far larger.

“We’re really getting less per student in Los Angeles than in other areas,” Higuchi said. “It’s another suburban-urban rip-off. . . . We’re glad about the money and we certainly won’t turn it down, but it doesn’t seem right.”

Educators said the spending plans, which still must be approved by the Legislature, are problematic in some ways. The class-size reduction effort, for example, would add to the state’s $7-billion backlog of construction needs, and schools that do not have vacant classrooms would have to scramble to participate.

But the initial reaction to the package of proposals has been positive.

Senate President Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) said through a spokesman that Wilson’s spending plans look good, at least at first blush. “It’s hard to argue with,” Lockyer said. “Democrats have always fought for money for schools. It looks like we are probably on the same side.”

Many educators were stunned at the idea of receiving extra money without having to ask students to sell candy or parents to run garage sales. Administrators said they might use the grants to add air-conditioning, send teachers to school for training or hook up more computers.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” said Ruth Bunyan, principal of Roscoe Boulevard Elementary School in Sun Valley. “I don’t think any educator in the state wouldn’t jump for joy at the news.”

She said the school, which participates in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s LEARN reform effort to turn over decision-making power to individual campuses, might spend the money to hire someone to staff its new computer lab. But the decision will be up to the school’s teachers, parents, nonteaching staff and administrators.

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Mike Roos, the president of LEARN, said schools participating in the reform effort would be well-positioned to use the grants effectively because they already have debated budget priorities. But the money likely will have little impact at schools that are less focused on a specific set of academic goals.

“If you hand over bonus money to schools that already have their reforms underway, that money is going to do a lot of good,” said Priscilla Wohlsetter, who heads the Center on Educational Governance at USC. “But if you have schools that are struggling . . . those schools will tend to spend money in the same way they have been spending it and they don’t get much bang for the buck.”

Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades has a list of priorities already developed by its budget committee, Principal Merle Price said. The $50,000 grant would double the textbook budget at the 2,400-student high school, or make up a relatively small part of its $8-million operating budget.

Still, he said, “I’m certainly not going to turn aside or scoff at $50,000.”

The windfall would be especially sweet for the 15-student La Grange Elementary School District in Stanislaus County. La Grange’s one-man superintendent and teaching team, David Ginsberg, was incredulous at the governor’s proposal, which would amount to $3,333.33 for each of his students.

Although the money would be enough to add music and fine arts to the curriculum, Ginsberg questioned its fairness.

“Some definitely need it more than others,” Ginsberg said. “It’s great news, but I don’t know.”

Colvin reported from Los Angeles, Seo from Huntington Beach. Times education writer Amy Pyle and staff writer Sharon Bernstein also contributed to this article.