White House Aide Assures Governors : Reagan Vows to Push Welfare Reform

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. â€”  A Reagan Administration official promised the nation’s governors Sunday that the White House will work toward a major welfare reform package this year.

And a leading congressional advocate of sweeping welfare reform legislation called for by the National Governors’ Assn. also voiced optimism that a welfare compromise could be reached.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) set November passage as a goal.

“We ought to be able to do this,� Moynihan said. “If we don’t, it’s because the White House went back against it, which would be a great loss.�

The governors’ association, holding its four-day annual summer meeting, proposed a sweeping welfare reform package last winter. Moynihan is the sponsor of one of several bills in Congress that is similar to what the governors are seeking.

‘President Is Committed’

In an appearance before the governors’ association’s executive committee, Frank J. Donatelli, President Reagan’s assistant for political affairs, said Reagan is committed to the issue. But Donatelli stopped short of offering compromise on key stumbling points.

“The President is absolutely committed to getting true welfare reform this year--he very much wants to work with the governors and the Congress,� Donatelli said. “I think the time is right that we can have real welfare reform this year.�

The welfare package the governors are seeking would require jobs for welfare recipients, including parents with children 3 or older, and would also require a commitment to self-sufficiency by recipients and flexible state programs for job training and placement. It also includes a national minimum standard for benefits.

One of the stumbling blocks on welfare reform, however, has been whether to extend benefits for children to families where there are two parents, a move the Reagan Administration opposes.

School Reform Pushed

And in a report released Sunday, the governors gave themselves high marks for pushing school reform but warned that it is “unrealistic� to expect continued huge spending boosts in education.

Between 1980 and 1987, state spending rose $16.5 billion, or 26%, discounting inflation, the report said. Teacher salaries during those years rose 6% to 7% annually, and now average $26,704 annually, double the levels of a decade ago.

The 50-state survey of education reform, “Results in Education: 1987,� also cited progress in heeding the needs of disadvantaged and other “at-risk� students.

The survey is the first of five annual report cards promised by governors last year. A year ago, the group issued “Time for Results,� in which governors offered a deal to each of the nation’s school districts: Improve performance and be freed from bothersome state regulation that sometimes hinders innovation. Fail, and tighter state controls would follow.

Last December, the governors took their ideas a step further by naming 16 districts in eight states to serve as laboratories for deregulation and school reform.