Public education is the pathway to a good life for all our children — particularly in a competitive global economy. That pathway certainly can't stop at the end of 12th grade. Now, more than ever, it is essential to keep that pathway — the promise that quality public higher education offers students across New York state — available for every child. We can do so through our community colleges, the City University of New York and through our State University system.

That's why NYSUT continues to press at the Capitol for budget restorations in higher education. But now a new development poses an even more dire situation for the State University. The state Division of Budget has announced a plan to withhold $110 million in SUNY revenue, essentially refusing to release to SUNY tuition funds and other income already earmarked for essential services. The DOB would also attach patient fees at SUNY teaching hospitals.

On top of previous budget cuts of almost $40 million, this loss of income threatens to devastate the university system, its faculty and programs.

Phil Smith, president of United University Professions — our affiliate representing SUNY's academic and professional faculty — said it best: "Without these funds, state-operated campuses and teaching hospitals will be unable to deliver services students and patients need and deserve. Courses will be canceled, class sizes will swell and the quality of our academic programs and patient care will suffer."

In withholding SUNY tuition and other fees, the state budget division would, in effect, be collecting money paid by students and their families for needed services and then diverting those monies, resulting in those needed services being eliminated.

This is the wrong approach at the wrong time. In a tough economy, the state should be investing in SUNY and in the students who will ultimately fill the high-quality jobs created by businesses here in New York.

It makes little sense to lure new, high-tech businesses to upstate New York without the homegrown, educated work force in place to fill those jobs.

Gov. David Paterson can reverse the budget division's deeply flawed strategy — one that disproportionately hurts college students and patients at our teaching hospitals.

In his few short weeks in office, he has demonstrated deep and thorough mastery of complex budget issues and the way they impact the lives of New Yorkers. Gov. Paterson's commitment to public education is longstanding and heart-felt. He is on record as an advocate for higher education, viewing it as a cornerstone of opportunity and economic prosperity. In concert with UUP, NYSUT is looking to the governor to undo a flawed budget strategy that would have real, immediate and profound consequences for New Yorkers who rely on the State University for quality higher education and health care.

Tenure passes test

I'm often surprised at how an idea evolves into a misguided proposal and eventually into a scheme. Fortunately, now and then, we finally reach a point where we see it for what it is and say "enough is enough." That was the case recently when some state school board officials and a few powerful voices, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, wanted to use individual student test scores to determine whether probationary teachers earned the due process protections of tenure.

NYSUT made a strong case against it. As you well know, while a student's overall performance is indeed important in gauging a teacher's effectiveness, standardized student tests are clearly the wrong instruments for determining what makes a good teacher.

Even if tests taken by students under No Child Left Behind could accurately measure student progress — and there is much evidence to suggest they don't — student diagnostic tests are not the right way to determine whether a teacher is good enough to remain in teaching.

Standardized tests are designed to measure something specific: like how well a fourth-grader is grasping certain math concepts — or the clarity of a child's writing. They were never designed to measure the quality of a particular teacher.

NYSUT has long held the position that if we want to measure teacher quality, there are a number of factors that must be considered; factors such as a new teacher's ability to collaborate with other teachers; the ability to work closely with parents; regular and consistent classroom visits by well-trained administrators; and constructive evaluations that are critical in helping new teachers hone their craft.

Sure, student test results do have a place, but not like Bloomberg and Klein suggested. Instead, school administrators can and should look at how teachers use test data to drive instruction. Good teachers should be expected to use test results to diagnose where individual students demonstrate strengths and weaknesses, as well as to adjust their own methodology and teaching strategies.

Fortunately, state lawmakers saw it our way. They understood that if school boards could misuse student test scores by using them to evaluate teachers, some very talented educators would have their careers destroyed. As I've said before — and as you've demonstrated — teachers embrace accountability. We believe in the highest standards.

But we also expect to be held accountable for that which we can control, and we expect to be evaluated based on appropriate factors designed for that purpose.