SCHOOL FUNDING A MIXED BAG K-12 BOARDS FUME WHILE COLLEGE LEADERS PLEASED.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

Public-education leaders in Los Angeles said Thursday they are stunned by how hard the state's largest school district will be hit by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget.

The preliminary budget, released Monday, provides increased funding but erases about $120 million in revenue that Los Angeles Unified School District officials anticipated for 2005-06, and it asks districts statewide to implement new initiatives that could cost millions of extra dollars, officials said.

``This is one of the worst budgets I've ever seen come out of Sacramento,'' LAUSD board member Julie Korenstein said. ``It's shocking.''

Korenstein said the budget, which could give charter schools and career and technology education extra money, ``decapitates us at our knees.''

LAUSD leaders had eagerly awaited this week's release of the proposed budget, hoping it would bring good news to help them with a mid-January county deadline to develop a $137 million package of budget cuts for 2005-06 and a Jan. 18 self-imposed deadline for proposing teacher pay-raise packages.

They had hoped Schwarzenegger would announce plans to distribute more than $2 billion of unanticipated revenue to schools, substantially lowering the number of cuts needed in LAUSD.

Estimates showed LAUSD gaining up to $120 million in extra funding. Revised estimates now show the proposed budget costing LAUSD about $1million.

``He's sending the message that we're spending too much money on education and that's the wrong message to spend. It is just a terrible message,'' board President Jose Huizar said.

Across the state, leaders of schools for children in kindergarten through 12th grade have accused the governor of breaking the promise he made last year when he borrowed $2 billion from the schools' Proposition 98 fund to keep the state afloat.

``The governor's budget fails our students, starves our schools, and consigns our public K-12 education system to a state of permanent underfunding,'' State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a prepared statement Thursday.

His comments came after he announced that a statewide coalition will fight the cuts to the K-12 system. In addition to cutting anticipated funding, the budget includes hefty levels of new borrowing, he said.

At a meeting with the Daily News on Thursday, Schwarzenegger rejected the criticism of his budget.

``They say we have cut, cut, cut,'' Schwarzenegger said. ``We increased spending overall by $2.9 billion. What they are upset with is that is not as much as they expected.

``We have to balance what we are doing. I look at the schools and I look at the program for healthy children, and I want to give them money as well. The schools are going to have to be more efficient. They can't solve all their problems by throwing money at it.''

Higher education leaders said earlier this week that they are pleased with the package, which provides more funding than they anticipated.

``From our perspective, it's actually quite a good proposal,'' said Peter Landsberger, chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District. ``It's a clear recognition by the governor of the role community colleges play.''

The governor's plan calls for no fee increases. It also provides cost-of- living increases and increases for enrollment growth.

The California State University system stands to gain $211.7 million for its 2005-06 budget. About 10,000 new students could be served systemwide.

``The governor's funding proposal should enable Cal State Northridge in the year ahead to serve the increasing numbers of students who want to enroll here, while also preserving the first-rate quality of a Cal State Northridge education,'' the campus president, Jolene Koester, said.

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com