SACRAMENTO – As part of a budget agreement negotiated with the Davis administration, a coalition of school groups is starting a $1 million advertising campaign to urge passage of a sales-tax increase.

The radio-and-print campaign is an attempt to turn up the heat on Republican legislators, who want to avoid using a tax increase to help close a record state budget gap.

The radio ads, scheduled to run in all major markets except San Diego, say a "small sales tax increase" is needed for a budget plan that avoids the need for deeper cuts in school funding.

"Educators across California ask you to call your legislators today," says one of the radio ads. "Ask them to pass the Education Coalition budget, and to pass it on time."

The coalition of teacher unions, school boards, administrators and others negotiated a milder package of school cuts in a revised budget plan proposed by Gov. Gray Davis last month.

In exchange, the coalition agreed to support a key part of the governor's revised plan to close a $38 billion budget gap – a $10.7 billion bond paid off over five years with a half-cent-on-the-dollar increase in the sales tax.

"We said we will support that in cooperation with this package we have developed here," said Brett McFadden, a lobbyist for the Association of California School Administrators.

The sales tax, which varies among counties, is currently 73/4 cents on each $1 of a purchase in San Diego County. A half-cent increase would yield about $2.3 billion a year statewide.

The governor's $8.3 billion tax package also would raise the tobacco and upper-bracket income taxes, yielding $2 billion, and it assumes the vehicle license fee will automatically triple under previous law, yielding $4 billion.

Yet there have been suggestions by Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton, D-San Francisco, and others that avoiding a deadlock that could lead to state-issued IOUs may hinge on getting GOP votes for the sales-tax increase.

The lead Assembly Republican budget-writer warns, however, that using public support for schools to try to pressure Republicans into dropping their opposition to a tax increase is unlikely to succeed.

"Our people know this is just a grandstanding game," said Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine. "They would be better off spending their million dollars trying to improve education."

Campbell said revenue from the proposed half-cent sales tax increase would be used to pay off the bond, not for school funding covered by the Proposition 98 guarantee.

Instead of a tax increase, Campbell said, schools should be aided by contracting out for cheaper support services, eliminating state bureaucracy and lifting state restrictions that prevent efficient local spending.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democrat, warned yesterday that Republican opposition to a tax increase was sending a "dangerous signal" that could further damage California's credit rating and ability to borrow.