Gov. Spitzer's Executive Budget proposal, released just a few days before this New York Teacher went to press, raises a question that everyone  - lawmakers, unionists, educators, health care providers, the media and citizens  - must grapple with in the coming months. For many, it will be a question of priorities:

How can we best keep our promises (in education and health care) to all our children in tough economic times?

Against a fiscal backdrop that is fraught with confusion and uncertainty, the governor has proposed his spending plan. It is up to the Legislature now to analyze and  - as is tradition and expected  - amend.

To his credit, Gov. Spitzer continues to make education a priority, and there are significant positive initiatives in the proposal that are welcomed.

But, there are also serious areas of concern in the Executive Budget.

The promised increases of last year tied to the foundation formula  - increases that were targeted at low-performing schools and students in poverty  - have been scaled back. Much is riding on those resources and the commitment defined by Gov. Spitzer last year and underscored with the Contracts for Excellence. Any wavering  - to blink now  - will send the wrong message about the ability of public education to maintain high standards and end the achievement gap.

Likewise, the significant commitments recommended by the Higher Education Commission and reemphasized in the governor's State of the State address are predicated on a far-from-certain endowment.

That endowment, by the most positive assessments, is likely still years from fruition. Meanwhile, SUNY, CUNY and the community colleges continue to be drastically underfunded; unacceptable if we are to even remotely approach the promise of a world-class university system for New York that includes both private and public higher education. And Bundy Aid, state aid for private colleges and universities, is cut by more than 2 percent.

Added to this, BOCES  - a significant source of savings through "cooperative services"  - would be cut, while charter schools  - currently in a legal battle to avoid real accountability  - continue to proliferate.

Amazingly, at the very same time the state is scaling back its commitment to the neediest schools, the governor has established a commission to propose a property tax cap which would remove local control of school district operations. This would make it almost impossible for school districts with the greatest needs to provide appropriate services and would severely handicap our highest performing school districts.

Experience with caps in other states (California's Proposition 13, for one) demonstrates the debilitating impact this will have on the ability of districts to provide appropriate services  - and the record shows that the most disadvantaged areas often suffer the most.

It's not just NYSUT saying this. The Albany Times Union editorial page of Jan. 21 agreed:

"We can understand Mr. Spitzer's predicament. Revenues will be hard to come by. Nonetheless, cutting back on school aid, even if it is only scaling back a planned increase in that aid, raises questions of priorities. Are there no other alternatives in a budget that may well exceed $125 billion?

"Mr. Spitzer has often praised the public schools, but if New York is to live up to its constitutional obligation to provide a sound, basic education to all students, it must provide adequate funds to achieve that goal. The need is even more pressing in an era when many companies base their decisions on whether to stay or locate here largely on the availability of an educated work force."

Of course, the governor's proposal is just that  - a proposal. The Legislature still has its work to do and NYSUT has allies on both sides of the aisle in both the Assembly and Senate. Our Research and Educational Services Department will continue to analyze and dissect the budget while our Legislative Department mobilizes and accelerates its lobbying efforts.

Meanwhile, we will continue to rely on our best advocates  - our members who write letters, send e-mails and make visits to district offices and here in Albany  - to convince their lawmakers to honor New York's commitment to provide quality public education, from pre-K through post-grad, for all of our children.