The traditional Albany scenario is as follows: The governor announces devastating budget cuts standing in a room filled with skeptical, if not cynical, reporters and stand-at-attention gubernatorial appointees.

Reporters ask questions, hoping to land a great headline or sound bite while the governor tries his hardest to paint the gloom and doom needed to justify the cuts.

He argues that there is no alternative, and the Legislature must adopt his proposed cuts.

Reporters close their notebooks, voice recorders are turned off, camera lights shut down and staff return to their offices to go about their work.

Perhaps there should be a different scenario. Why not make the announcement in front of the people who would be most impacted?

In that way, when Gov. David Paterson proposed earlier this month $3 billion in midyear budget cuts, he would have outlined his plan before an audience that included CUNY and SUNY students, who suddenly found their financial aid reduced and access to the classes and services they need to graduate severely limited.

The audience would have included the state's indigent, who need the health care provided by the State University's respected teaching hospitals as well as the researchers and scientists in those hospitals — and on SUNY and CUNY campuses — whose critical work will be seriously disrupted.

The governor would also have had to explain his plans to the state's English language learners who rely on our outstanding network of community colleges to prepare for high-quality, productive employment.

The announcement would also take place face-to-face with the frail elderly and their families, who count on the nursing home care that would be compromised by the proposed cuts.

And, of course, the students — New York's children — they too should be told why, through no fault of their own, their schools are going to be different. Maybe an art program will be discontinued. Perhaps a favorite teacher will no longer be at the front of the classroom or they'll find more kids crammed into their already-overcrowded classroom.

Students trapped in the academic achievement gap — especially those who were just beginning to make progress through support services — would be particularly interested to hear the governor's explanation.

There's not much interaction or human drama at budget news conferences, but budget cuts like those proposed by Gov. Paterson take a heavy human toll.

You don't have to be a professional educator to anticipate the chaos that nearly $700 million in midyear cuts to schools will cause in classrooms across the state.

When you start slashing and redirecting resources at this point in the school year, you are severely disrupting the learning process. Some administrators are already predicting and preparing for faculty layoffs and the elimination of programs.

Let's not forget that we started this fiscal year victims of funding cuts when the state broke its promise to provide all students with a "sound, basic education," falling $1.2 billion short of the funding increases ordered in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.

Public higher education continues to be the budgetary whipping boy of this and too many past governors. As part of the latest round of cuts, the governor issued an executive order cutting $90 million from the State University of New York and — pending approval of the Legislature — $53 million from the City University.

Both systems were already reeling from massive budget reductions last year and this latest blow puts us that much further from the goal of a first-class university system.

Nor should we forget the significant impact higher education campuses have on state and local economies.

In my travels across New York, I have witnessed up close how these campuses — especially in smaller, upstate areas — are the fiscal lifeblood of communities, providing jobs and pumping millions of dollars into the economy.

The loss of these jobs and less local spending on goods and services certainly won't help these cities, towns and villages work their way to economic growth.

The same holds true for our community colleges, where the governor proposes a $34 million reduction in aid.

As I reported in past columns, I've recently had the privilege to be with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, as they discussed the importance of community colleges to the nation's economic recovery.

The Obama administration has backed up its commitment with a 10-year, $12 billion investment in community colleges.

As Jill Biden, a community college professor herself, wrote in Forbes magazine, community colleges are "the single best path to opportunity for millions of Americans."

I suspect that many of Jill Biden's students are like those featured in the centerspread of this New York Teacher, English language learners who, due in large part to the state's investment in programs and resources designed to meet their needs, are making progress and meeting standards.

These students are turning to community colleges — like Westchester Community College, which serves more than 5,000 ELL students —as a path to the middle class and equal opportunity.

It's the goal shared by the federal DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), which would allow undocumented students to enroll in college and seek conditional residency status. It's legislation that Congress needs to pass.

Providing a lift, giving a chance, achieving a dream ... that's what makes this nation and state great, and that's the scenario that should be taking place in Albany.