SACRAMENTO — State Department of Education officials used state phones on state time to place hundreds of calls to campaign consultants and others working to defeat the school vouchers initiative, supporters of the measure charged Thursday.

Citing records of phone calls from state education officials to political consultants, backers of Proposition 174 called on acting Supt. of Public Instruction Dave Dawson to resign, and asked for investigations into the use of state resources for electioneering.

Ken Khachigian, consultant to the badly underfunded Yes on 174 campaign, called the phone calls "clear circumstantial evidence that there has been extremely close cooperation" between the department and opponents of the measure.

"It's this smug (attitude): 'Hey, we're in this together, folks. You help us, we'll help you,' " Khachigian said. "I think that's wrong. The taxpayers paid for this. It went to excess. They went overboard."

Khachigian said he was not accusing anyone of a crime. Although use of state resources in an election could be a misdemeanor, there is no law against state officials responding to inquiries from political consultants. Khachigian also acknowledged that political leaders have a right to take stands on issues of the day, but said the 330 calls from state phones during a three-month period were excessive.

Susan Lange, spokesman for Dawson, said that Dawson has no plans to resign and that the department would welcome an investigation.

"We have nothing to hide," Lange said. She would not, however, publicly discuss details of the phone calls, saying: "We're not going to go through every phone call with every reporter who calls. It's not a good use of our time."

Khachigian convened the news conference in the wake of polls this week by The Times and the Field Institute showing the education vouchers initiative trailing by more than 2 to 1. The Yes on 174 campaign has struggled to counter the more than $10-million campaign waged by the initiative's opponents.

The measure on the Nov. 2 ballot would give parents of school age children annual tax-supported vouchers of about $2,600 for private school tuition. State officials oppose the proposal on grounds that it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in initial years and take money from public schools.

Phone records obtained through the Public Records Act by the Yes on 174 campaign reflect outgoing calls from the Department of Education in Sacramento for June, July and August. The cost was minor--$36--but the calls took up more than 15 hours.