Gov. Jerry Brown's campaign to balance the state budget with new income and sales taxes took a double hit Monday.

Brown has been describing his temporary sales and income tax increases as necessary to protect schools and public safety. But a new report on school finance from the Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, makes it clear that even were Brown's taxes to be increased, his budget would continue to reduce California's per-pupil spending. Virtually all of the school money in the package would just pay schools what the state already owes them.

Meanwhile, Molly Munger, a wealthy civil rights attorney, declared that she intends to spend whatever is necessary to place her own $10 billion-a-year income tax increase just for schools on the same November ballot, saying it would boost per-pupil spending by an average of more than $1,500 per year.

Brown has made no secret of his desire to have the only tax boost on the ballot, fearing that multiple measures would confuse voters and perhaps lead them to reject all. He persuaded the Think Long Committee for California to suspend its complex tax reform campaign, but Munger spurned entreaties from the Brown camp to do likewise.

Munger took a couple of indirect shots at Brown's $7 billion-per-year measure during a speech in Sacramento to state PTA leaders, who pledged to become her field army. She told reporters later that she hadn't talked directly to Brown about the conflicting proposals, but refused to say whether she had talked to Brown's wife, Anne.

That lent credence to reports that Anne Gust Brown, who has emerged as her husband's political enforcer, had had heated exchanges with Munger, daughter of billionaire investor Charles Munger, Warren Buffet's business partner.

"We're not here to talk about disagreements we have with the governor," Munger said, adding that she considers her roughly 20 percent increase in income taxes "so strong with voters, even if it's on the ballot with other measures, it can pass."

The PTA's endorsement of Munger also indicates that the Education Coalition, a quarter-century-old organization dedicated to school financing, may be developing cracks. The California Teachers Association has endorsed Brown's measure while the smaller California Federation of Teachers has its own school finance plan.

Taylor's report widens that fissure because it bolsters complaints of some school groups that as Brown talks about helping schools, he doesn't actually propose any new money, and meanwhile threatens to reduce school funds even more should his tax measure fail.

Taylor's report says schools would get $87 per pupil per year less if the Brown plan is approved by the Legislature and voters, and $459 less if it fails.

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Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters Follow him on Twitter @WaltersBee.

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