Wilson Aide Casts Doubts on Brown’s Union Pact : Education: Some lawmakers also voice concern that use of restricted funds could spark state intervention.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s top education adviser and several influential state legislators raised serious concerns Thursday about the fiscal wisdom of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s compromise settlement of the Los Angeles teachers union contract dispute.

The critics--who include political foes of Brown and others who are active in a move to break up the mammoth Los Angeles school district--spoke out as the union prepared to tabulate the results of two days of balloting over the fragile accord, which was approved by the school board Monday. The outcome of the vote will be announced today.

Teachers are voting on a package that makes a 2% reduction in a cumulative 12% pay cut imposed by the district last October and provides district concessions that increase teachers’ decision-making authority.

On Thursday, Maureen DiMarco, Wilson’s secretary of child development and education, said that one cornerstone of the proposal--using textbook and other special funds to restore 2% of teachers’ pay--could trigger fiscal intervention by the state.

“We have concerns about the district being able to afford this contract,” DiMarco said. “I can’t figure out how this fiscally works. . . . The ability to afford it seems predicated on expending money that is designated for student instructional purposes.”

Indeed, the Los Angeles school board, which voted 6 to 0 with one abstention for the plan, said that endorsing it is a horrible solution, but one that they hope will avert what all agree would be a disastrous and potentially volatile walkout.

As mediator of the dispute, Brown wrested control of the negotiations from the warring factions last week by proposing his own settlement. He has been adamant that the potential for a strike calls for emergency measures and that a measure of financial risk is the price of averting a strike.

His prediction that his proposal would make no one happy has been borne out during the last week.

United Teachers-Los Angeles President Helen Bernstein said the vote was “too close to call” as thousands of union members, angry over the 10% pay cut, flocked to the ballot box. The union has 27,000 members, including teachers, school nurses and counselors.

Supt. Sid Thompson said Thursday that he has concerns about three teacher empowerment issues in the proposal: allowing teachers to choose by seniority the subjects they teach on the high school level, as well as their grade level and year-round school schedule. Under the proposal, only Brown has the authority to alter these provisions. He has not yet been asked to rule on the issues.

Thompson also said he is nervous about the tenuous financial position the proposed accord causes, but he said he is confident that Brown will not allow it to unravel.

In a worst-case scenario, DiMarco said that she can’t rule out the possibility that the proposal will trigger complex state laws that call for state intervention when a school district is in precarious financial condition.

To reduce the teachers’ pay cut, Brown has proposed that the district dip into its $31-million emergency reserve account and use textbook and other restricted funds to make up the state-required reserve. Under state education codes, the district will probably seek waivers from the State Board of Education in late spring to use those restricted funds.

DiMarco said she is studying whether such a waiver would be legal. An attorney with the state education department said he has not researched the issue and could not comment. Brown, who has given his word to the district and the union that he will make the agreement work, could end up introducing legislation to settle legal disputes that could derail it.

Several other lawmakers who are active in education issues said that the fragile plan is ill-advised.

Sen. Becky Morgan (R-Los Altos) said that although she hasn’t looked at details of the agreement, she does not like it. Morgan is among the top contenders to succeed ousted state schools chief Bill Honig, whose replacement will be appointed by Wilson.

“I just don’t think you can soak up all the money in salaries and have money for computers and books and the kind of things that you need in the classroom,” Morgan said Thursday. “The public is mad and they don’t see solutions, and I don’t think that they see more money for salaries as the solution.”

Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) said the deal is “evidence that the system does not work.” Hayden backs a plan by Senate Leader David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) to create a citizen’s commission to break up the district.

“The Speaker’s a master at producing temporary formulas to patch things up and kind of keep institutions afloat, but this one is taking water pretty seriously, I think,” said Hayden, who has been a legislative expert on higher education.

“If you strip the textbook account and you strip the reserve and you’re cutting pay 10%, what’s left to pay for education? Inflation alone is going to cut the cost of education,” Hayden said.

Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont), chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee, supports the plan and commended Brown.

“Part of (the criticism) you are seeing has to do with politics and the tension between the governor and the Speaker,” Eastin said. “But politics is the art of compromise. If anyone has anything better in mind, let them float it.”

Chavez reported from Los Angeles and Frammolino from Sacramento.