THE STATE BUDGET : Honig Calls Plan a ‘Double Cross’ : Education: State schools chief charges that Wilson’s vetoes will force cuts in funding. In letter to district officials, governor says superintendent is misrepresenting his actions.

SACRAMENTO —  Accusing Gov. Pete Wilson of a “$500-million double cross,” state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said Thursday that school districts throughout California may have to pare their budgets by 2% because of a series of Wilson vetoes.

Honig contended that the vetoes, totaling $509 million, leave him little choice but to reduce the funds he can release to schools this year by almost $100 per student.

However, Wilson sent a letter to school officials late Thursday stating that it was never his intent to reduce school funding below the $4,185 per student that he agreed to in signing the budget. He also accused Honig of misrepresenting the reasons for the vetoes and assured school districts and teachers that all money would be available for schools this year.

“I regret any anxiety that you may have suffered as a result of representations Supt. Honig has made,” Wilson wrote. “Let me set the record straight.”

Wilson said Honig has the authority to ensure that schools get the full funding they were promised until legislation is passed early next year to correct technical problems that prompted the vetoes.

Spokesmen for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) said that the legislative leaders are willing to call the Legislature back into session if that is needed to avoid confusion.

Wilson’s Secretary of Child Development and Education, Maureen DiMarco, told reporters that there was no reason to hold a special session and that Honig had created “a tempest in a teacup.”

DiMarco accused Honig of having “paranoid concerns” about the governor’s intentions. She said any misunderstanding can be easily cleared up in January after the Legislature reconvenes. In the meantime, she said, Honig has the discretion he needs to distribute the full amount of money promised to the schools and that districts “should feel very comfortable spending it.”

But Honig said the governor should call the Legislature back into session to clarify his intent and avoid disarray in the public schools.

“What you’re going to have is every district in California in the next week . . . reopening its budget to find another 2%,” Honig said. “That’s a huge amount given the circumstance. It’s going to be very disruptive. It’s going to be chaos out there. There are going to be demonstrations in the streets over this thing.”

At issue are a series of vetoes within the education portion of the state budget that were announced by the Wilson Administration this week with little fanfare.

Two vetoes, totaling $425 million, were prompted by what the Administration has described as faulty wording in the budget bill. The wording would have left the state open to lawsuits for cost-of-living increases beyond the agreed-upon $4,185 per student, DiMarco said. Other vetoes were needed to redirect money from specific programs so that it could be used to support basic education funding to districts.

An agitated Honig said the vetoes were carried out “in the dead of night, privately, with no publicity.”

The elected schools chief said he feared that the vetoes were a deliberate effort to reduce the amount of cash for schools, and he dismissed as “absolute nonsense” the contention that the actions were based on technical wording problems. He said that if the Legislature did not act to correct the problem or if there was an unexpected downturn in state revenues, the money could disappear--an assertion flatly denied by the governor.

“I’ve been up here for 10 years and I’ve seen double crosses, I’ve seen dishonesty, I’ve seen deceit, I’ve seen a whole variety of immoral actions and I’ve never seen anything that comes close to what Pete Wilson has just pulled on the school kids of this state,” Honig said.

He said there will be political repercussions for Wilson unless the governor calls the Legislature back to correct the budget language and restore the vetoed items.

“This is going to blow up in his face,” Honig said. “There is going to be such an organization, demonstration against this governor if he does not call people back into session that his job is going to be at stake.”

But DiMarco and others in the Administration sought to calm the schools, taking swipes at Honig as they did so.

“It’s only been made a big deal,” DiMarco said, “because some people are very paranoid about what is occurring and there is no reason to be paranoid, concerned, worried, upset or feeling anything else negative.”

A letter this week from DiMarco and Wilson’s chief deputy finance director, LaFenus Stancell, assured Honig that the vetoed funds were set aside for education and that the governor intends to maintain funding levels guaranteed in the budget agreement.

But the dispute over the intent of the vetoes has school officials nervous because the amount at issue is so large.

If the money were withheld it would cost the Los Angeles Unified School District $60 million, said Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont), who chairs the Assembly Education Committee.

Eastin said she and other legislative leaders were blindsided by Wilson’s action. She said she agrees with Honig that the governor should bring back the lawmakers to clarify the issue. “You do not spend money that is not budgeted,” she said. “That’s against the law.”

Meanwhile, state Controller Gray Davis, who signs the checks sent out to school districts, has been talking to Honig about how to proceed.

“The controller is inclined to pay at the higher level assuming there is a legal basis to do so,” said Davis’ chief of staff, Scott Shafer.