Teachers Top Spending by State Lobbies in 1st Quarter : Government: Their union spent $1.5 million opposing governor’s plans to cut school funding, according to secretary of state’s report.

SACRAMENTO — The powerful California Teachers Assn. spent $1.5 million in the first three months of this year to try to scuttle Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to cut school funding, according to a report released Thursday by Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

The report ranked the union as the top spender for the period among Sacramento lobbying groups. A CTA official said this was largely because the union spent a substantial amount on television commercials to build public support. The report disclosed that 1,804 lobbyist employers spent $26.5 million to try to influence legislators’ votes in January, February and March.

If the present trend continues, the total for the two-year legislative session would top $200 million, in comparison to the $193 million spent during the 1989-90 session, according to Eu.

In topping the spending list, the teachers’ union was seeking support to prevent Wilson from suspending Proposition 98, which guarantees to schools a fixed share of state funds. Wilson is seeking legislative authority to suspend the voter-approved measure to help erase the state’s budget deficit, now $14.3 billion and reportedly growing.

The CTA has made retaining Proposition 98 the top priority of its eight-member lobbying staff assigned to the Capitol, according to one of the union’s lobbyists.

In its rankings by category, the secretary of state’s report showed educational lobbying was No. 1 with $3.1 million spent. No. 2 was health with $2.9 million. Manufacturing-industrial, government and finance-insurance tied for third, with $2.6 million-plus each.

Oil and gas interests spent $1.4 million, professional-trade followed with $1.3 million, utilities with $1.3 million, labor unions with $889,000 and real estate with $797,000.

Most of the money as reported in the study went for salaries and expenses of lobbyists hired to influence legislators. Contributions that the lobbyists’ employers make to political campaigns are not included in the information released Thursday.

The study was the first of quarterly reports that the secretary of state’s office says it will issue, enabling closer monitoring of lobbyist employer spending. Until now, lobbying reports were released annually. The reports now also identify categories of lobbying firms and institutions and rank them according to spending.

Other leading individual spenders over the past three months included the Assn. of California Insurance Companies with $520,000, California Medical Assn. with $413,000, California Manufacturers Assn. with $376,000, Metropolitan Water District with $317,000, and California Trial Lawyers Assn. with $250,000.

Low-cost and no-fault automobile insurance, health insurance for employees who don’t have it and drought relief are among the major issues scheduled to be resolved at the current legislative session.

According to the report, the highest-paid state capital lawyer-lobbyist firm during the first quarter was SRJ Jackson/Barish & Associates with receipts of $551,000. This firm represents a variety of clients, including breweries, insurance companies, lottery equipment firms and the B.F. Goodrich Co.

No. 2 was Advocation Inc., which reportedly received $487,000 and has clients such as Federal Express, General Motors, and the Walt Disney Co. Carpenter & Associates, which represents Orange County and others, was next with $426,000.