Spending Plans Fall Victim to Politics

By Evan Halper

May 31, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO — The plan to partner the state with local farms to get fresh fruit on school breakfast trays hardly seemed controversial, and it wouldn’t have cost much.

But it apparently had a fatal flaw: It was championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Legislature swiftly rejected the $18.2-million program in budget hearings this month, leaving the nonprofit group that pushed for the project stunned.

“We didn’t see this coming at all,” said Ken Hecht, executive director of California Food Policy Advocates. “We were shocked.”

Some Democrats even suggested that the governor’s inclusion of the food program in his budget plan was a political stunt, an effort to obscure an overall strategy that leaves schools without funding for basic services.

Administration officials have said repeatedly that such programs represent creative thinking and are part of their push to find new ways to improve conditions in schools.

The fresh fruit project was one of several advocated by the governor and caught in the political crossfire between him and Democrats in recent weeks.

Democrats are so angry at Schwarzenegger over a number of his policies that they appear especially determined to block items that might win him points with the public as he tries to boost sagging approval ratings.

“The relationship between Democrats and the governor is at an all-time low,” said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow. “You have to view these budget issues in the context of everything else going on in Sacramento, including what appears to be an impending special election. Anybody who is trying to get their program funded is going to have to deal with those cross-currents.”

The Democrats have targeted a few big items, like the governor’s plans to spend $100 million reducing class size in low-performing schools and to boost the pay of teachers in those schools. Major school groups had criticized them as window dressing to divert attention from much larger education needs they say are unmet in Schwarzenegger’s budget, and Democrats were quick to agree.

But grass-roots groups were taken aback to see the Democrats dismiss so many of the smaller initiatives the governor sprinkled into the proposed budget he released May 13, such as the plan to bring fruit to schools.

Among other programs that have fallen by the wayside as the political tussle intensifies are a measure to help seniors get affordable prescription drugs, a nurse training initiative at community colleges and an expansion of vocational education classes for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Proponents of the projects find the situation frustrating.

“The money it would take to fund our program would be hardly visible,” said Hecht, who says the state will probably spend $115.7 billion next year. “The value of it is wonderful. But here we are, caught hostage in the midst of a political tug of war.”

Some say they sympathize with Democratic lawmakers, who want the governor to put back in his budget billions of dollars for local schools, social services and healthcare before they sign off on his new proposals.

Scott Lay, budget director for the Community College League of California, said there is no question that Schwarzenegger’s “budget insulted local schools.” But now Lay’s group, too, is caught in the middle of the dispute.

An Assembly budget committee blackballed a $10-million program this month to expand nurse training programs at community colleges. Committee members voted instead -- against the advice of the league -- to put the money into other community college programs.

“It made no sense,” Lay said. “Here we have a commitment from the administration to address a chronic nursing shortage.... I’m perplexed as to why the Assembly decided to do this.”

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) said many of the programs being rejected were paid for with one-time income from a state tax amnesty program. Such money, he said, should not be used to create ongoing programs.

“The governor says to us: We need to be fiscally prudent,” he said. “We are being just that.”

Laird stopped short of promising that Democrats won’t be pushing for any new programs during the horse trading that will go on behind closed doors in the coming weeks.

Indeed, some of the governor’s proposals could reemerge in those bartering sessions. But getting them approved would be an uphill battle after budget committees have pulled so many of them out of the legislation that ultimately will enact the budget and will serve as the platform for Democrats going into the final talks.

“We will continue to fight for these initiatives,” said Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer. “But given the way they have been treated so far, the organizations that worked with us on them are more than entitled to be livid with the Legislature.... For the most part, these things were rejected with little serious discussion.”

Complicating matters for the governor, he has yet to have any meaningful budget negotiations with legislative leaders, even though the June 15 deadline for lawmakers to pass a budget is a mere two weeks away.

The standoff has been fueled by the special election the governor says he is planning to call this year. On the ballot in such an election would be measures to cap how much the state could spend on schools, social services and every other government program, as well as a politically incendiary proposition that would limit the ability of unions to use member dues to help fund political campaigns. Unions are among Democrats’ biggest donors.

The governor has tried to use the prospect of the special election to extract concessions from Democrats. So far, however, the tactic has had the opposite effect. A public opinion poll released last week shows little enthusiasm for such an election among voters, strengthening Democrats’ resolve to resist the governor.

That resistance is working against even programs supported by traditional allies, such as groups seeking lower-priced medicines for seniors. Mark Beach, a spokesman for the AARP, said he was surprised at how quickly Democrats disposed of the governor’s $11.7-million Cal RX initiative earlier this month, which would have involved the state working with pharmaceutical companies to provide discounted prescription drugs for low-income Californians.

“It’s disappointing when partisanship ends up doing away with a program that brings real benefits to Californians,” he said.

Beach said that though he understood the concerns of those who say the program doesn’t do enough to help make prescription drugs more affordable, at least Cal RX was a start. But now it appears the state will go into the new fiscal year without a program to bring down drug costs.

“We realize this program wasn’t the be-all and end-all,” Beach said. “But we were trying to get people help this year. We thought this would be a good first step.”

Laird said the program was poorly designed. “You need to start with a good program and agree to fund it.”

Beach said he believed the vote was more about politics than policy: “Partisanship poisoned the waters.”

In most cases, the nonprofits trying to keep their programs from being rejected are doing all they can to stand on the sidelines of the partisan battles. But the executive director of one group jumped right in.

Jim Aschwanden, who heads the California Agricultural Teachers Assn., said he grew tired of watching the politically powerful California Teachers Assn. and other education groups stand by as schools were forced to abandon technical education programs due to lack of resources.

“They are not negotiating for our kids,” he said. “They are just trying to get the best benefit packages for their members.”

So Aschwanden signed on as a co-chairman of the governor’s Coalition for Education Reform, a group of educators that has parted ways with the CTA and other major school groups to support Schwarzenegger’s education agenda. That agenda includes spending billions of dollars less on education than is called for under voter-approved formulas, but also encompasses the programs intended to boost achievement in the poorest-performing schools. The governor is also seeking to increase the amount of time it takes for teachers to receive tenure.

Aschwanden’s outspokenness may have helped get a $30-million pilot program to bring more vocational education to the state’s middle schools into the governor’s budget. The program was killed in committee.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Proposals denied

Legislative budget committees have rejected several of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s spending proposals. Among them:

Class size reduction in low-performing schools. Cost: $52 million

Teacher training programs.

Cost: $30 million.

Fresh fruit for school breakfasts. Cost: $18.2 million.

Proposal to negotiate discounts on prescription drugs for uninsured Californians. Cost: $11.7 million.

Expansion of nurse training programs. Cost: $10 million.

Sources: State Assembly, state Senate and Department of Finance