Deukmejian Hits School Budget Complainers

Gov. George Deukmejian, defending his proposed education budget, said Thursday night that educators should stop complaining about the amount of money schools receive and start finding ways to spend it more effectively.

Expounding a view on education spending that sounds somewhat like that of his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Deukmejian sought to place the burden of improving education on school administrators.

“We need leadership in education today that is less concerned with a crusade for more money and is more concerned with creating new scholars,” the Republican governor said in a speech at a California Lutheran University benefit in Beverly Hills.

Deukmejian has been on the defensive on the education issue since January, when he proposed a budget that would increase school spending by $565 million.

Critics of the spending plan, led by state schools Supt. Bill Honig, charge that it will actually mean a decrease in the amount of money spent per student because of soaring enrollment in many districts. Honig has launched a campaign to mobilize parents and teachers to put pressure on Deukmejian to increase education spending.

The governor, who has accused Honig of misleading the public, noted that annual spending on schools has increased by $6 billion since he became governor in 1983. Deukmejian also repeated his contention that 55% of the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 will be devoted to education.

Deukmejian also noted that a number of schools throughout the state that have been designated as “exemplary” by the U.S. Department of Education receive the same amount of money--and sometimes less--as other schools.

“I’d like to suggest that instead of putting all of their efforts toward getting more money, our educational leaders should be examining these schools and transferring their successful formulas statewide,” Deukmejian said.