More than 600 NYSUT in-service and retired activists descended on the state Capitol, urging lawmakers to stop raids by the state Budget Division on SUNY and reject any calls for property tax caps.

"This visit is critical," NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin told the unionists. "We are here representing more than 600,000 members and their families. Education has no better advocate than our Committee of 100."

With the state university system still reeling from more than $38 million in cuts, Lubin said, a decision by the Budget Division to seize tuition and fees paid by SUNY parents and students and revenue from patients at public university hospitals would slash more than $109 million in SUNY funding.

Meanwhile, a commission named by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer is set to release a report calling, among other things, for a property tax cap. NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi said a tax cap on school budgets "would lead to crushing cutbacks in education programs that help to improve student performance and end the achievement gap."

Both messages were repeated in office after office as union activists put a name and a face to the issues.

David Curry, president of the United University Professions' Plattsburgh chapter, told Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, of the devastation additional SUNY cuts could cause. "Our concern is that there will be a hiring freeze, adjuncts laid off and classes canceled," he said. Rochester VOTE-COPE coordinator Timothy Quill echoed the argument, noting the SUNY Geneseo campus would lose an additional $3 million.

Like many upstate senators, Little is proud of the role colleges play. "As the economy gets bad, there's nothing more important than SUNY and our community colleges," she told union activists. "These campuses are big economic factors in our communities"

Assemblywoman Susan John, D-Rochester, said the Assembly has been adamant about protecting the state's investment in the SUNY system. With the economic climate forcing a need to raise revenue, John advocated for a "millionaires' tax" on the state's wealthiest residents.

Union activists again urged lawmakers to reject calls for a property tax cap on school budgets. Barbara Barosa, president of the Riverhead Faculty Association, told Sen. Kenneth LaValle, R-Port Jefferson, that a cap would only create further disparity between the haves and have-nots. "It should be a local decision," LaValle said.

Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, said Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who heads the property tax commission, is looking at alternative measures for tax relief. Suozzi, she said might recommend a "circuit breaker" that would tie property tax rates to income levels, protecting those on low and fixed incomes.

Other concerns

NYSUT members brought several concerns to lawmakers' attention, including discriminatory language in the state Family Health Plus insurance program that excludes public employees, including many School-Related Professionals.

Union activists urged lawmakers to consider retired and retiring educators as well. On the table is legislation allowing members with 25 years of service to retire without penalty at age 55, tier equity legislation, improved benefits to older retirees and improvements to the state's Cost-of-Living Adjustment law.

— Clarisse Butler Banks and Bernie Mulligan