Barbara Kerr will inherit more than a new headquarters when she takes over as president of the California Teachers Association later this month.

The Riverside elementary school teacher assumes the helm of the powerful teachers union as the state confronts an estimated $38.2 billion budget deficit, the largest in its history, with hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to education possible.

She also becomes leader at a time when the union has strained relations with some influential lawmakers.

Outgoing President Wayne Johnson, a Los Angeles high school teacher, recently criticized leaders of the Senate Education and Appropriations committees, accusing them of trying to increase class sizes. And Johnson infuriated the Davis administration during last year's governor's race by revealing that Davis solicited campaign contributions at a Capitol meeting.

With the Democratic governor facing a recall threat, Kerr will help decide how large a role the union should play. Earlier this month, the associations's board voted to oppose the recall campaign.

But Kerr declined to say whether the union would contribute money or personnel to fight the recall.

Kerr, who has spent more than 25 years in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms, said her priority as incoming president of the 330,000-member teachers union is to make school more enjoyable for students and teachers.

"Because of the emphasis on testing and the rigidity of the curriculum, kids are not getting the idea that learning is fun, learning is exciting, learning is a lifelong experience and that you can be passionate about learning," Kerr, 56, said in an interview. "It's not just bubbling in. It's art. It's music. It's literature. It's math. That's a huge area I want to do something about."

Kerr said one solution could be a statewide ballot initiative next year to increase education funding. The legislative battle over closing the state's budget deficit means teachers might be better off taking their case straight to voters, she said.

A decision on an initiative will come in the fall, she said.

"If (lawmakers) are spending this much time arguing over half a penny (sales tax increase) to save this state from ruin, I don't have a lot of faith in them," she said.

Dedicated to cause

People who know Kerr describe her as dedicated to teaching and the union.

"She bleeds CTA," said John Mockler, a longtime Capitol staffer and former executive director of the state Board of Education. "She doesn't have a big personal ego. She leads like she's taking good care of a kindergarten class. In that sense, she'll be a little different from past leaders."

Katherine Underwood, a Moreno Valley teacher who sits on the teachers union's board, said Kerr reaches out to all sides.

"She's a very positive person who tries to work with people and also tries to hold the line when she feels confident it's the right thing to do," Underwood said.

Georgia Hill, a Riverside Unified deputy superintendent, frequently crossed paths with Kerr in the early 1980s when Hill was principal of Washington Elementary School and Kerr was president of the district's teachers union.

"When you're a new principal, you're nervous about those things," Hill said. "She was always supportive of the teacher. But she also was extremely honest with the teacher when they were not doing what they were supposed to do."

Powerful union

Kerr will lead an organization that is one of the state's most dominant political interest groups.

During the 2002 election cycle, its political action committees donated close to $15 million, mostly to school bond measures and Democratic candidates. In that time, it spent more than $6 million lobbying decision makers.

Three years ago, the union outgrew its former Sacramento headquarters. It commissioned a much larger building, a sleek structure across from the Capitol scheduled for move-in Aug. 1.

Last week, Kerr headlined a rally calling on lawmakers to pass the governor's proposed 2003-04 budget by the end of the month.

Davis' May spending plan increased education spending $700 million over his January proposal. Some saw the hike as proof that the governor is trying to shore up his relations with teachers before a possible recall battle.

Kerr acknowledged that this month's vote to oppose the recall upset some teachers.

"Gray has not always been popular with teachers," she said. "But he's working to redeem himself with this budget. Nobody's happy about the amount of cuts we've had, but this one's as fair as it can be."