March 8, 1981

THE elimination of $64 million in minimum state aid to 234 school districts, as called for in Governor Byrne's 1982 education budget, has teachers, administrators, school-board members and parents on the warpath. Their target is the Legislature, which has until June 30 to act on the budget and in which sentiment appears to be strong for restoration of all or part of the $64 million. The proposed $1.7 billion state education budget represents an increase of 6 percent over the $1.6 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year. It also represents a decrease of $9 million in compensatory aid and $20 million that school leaders say they had hoped to get in transportation costs. Compensatory aid consists principally of funds for teaching students in need of remedial work.

The Environmental Protection Agency will propose on Monday a change in clean air regulations that is intended to ease restrictions on new industrial development while continuing to protect against air pollution, Vice President Bush announced today. The regulatory change would affect the entire industrial area of the nation, about 17 percent of the nation's land mass, including the Northeast corridor, southern California and the industrial Middle West. Present clean air regulations severely impede industrial development in much of this area, and the proposed change would ease these restrictions without adding to air pollution, Administration officials contend. They also said that the revision could have a significant early effect in California by permitting, for example, more refining of domestic oil and the retooling of two General Motors Corporation plants in Van Nuys and South Gate to build smaller cars.

AFTER halting a 12-year influx of office buildings at a point at which they produce about 25 percent of its tax revenues, Greenwich is now seeking to halt construction in other communities, even those across state lines, whenever such development is perceived to be a threat to the Greenwich environment and its way of life. Last December, for example, in an effort to eliminate the possible side effects of office construction in the neighboring Town of Rye, Greenwich filed lawsuits against it and the developers, contending that office buildings planned by Citicorp and Largo London & Leeds, a development concern, would affect the environment in Connecticut. This may be the first time that a municipality has tried to block development across state lines. Greenwich was joined in the lawsuit by the adjacent village of Harrison, where Supervisor John Passidomo said that the failure of Rye and Westchester County to provide a new road in order to resolve Harrison's traffic problems in connection with the project ''left us no choice.''

In 1975, Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger called his a ''turnaround defense budget'' (critics called it ''the camel's nose''). Last week, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger called his ''rearming America.'' Only the label has changed.

DIX HILLS ''THERE'S no mystery about what the problems are,'' said Francis S. Gabreski, reflecting on the difficulties that forced him out of his job as president of the Long Island Rail Road. ''By 1984 or 1985,'' he said, ''there should be a tremendous improvement in service with the opening of the West Side storage yard near Penn Station. But between now and then there will be the same kinds of ups and downs that we've been having because there is no flexibility in the system.'' Two weeks ago, the 62-year-old Mr. Gabreski - a former ace fighter pilot - became the third of six presidents in the last 25 years to be ousted by the railroad because of service problems. Named as his temporary replacement, for a period of two months, was Daniel T. Scannell, former head of the New York City Transit Authority and first vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board of directors.