Public higher education stands to lose the ground it has gained in the last two years unless the Legislature restores cuts to operating aid outlined in the 2008-09 executive budget.

"We are disappointed that our public higher education institutions find themselves in an all-too-familiar situation of having to play catch-up," Lubin told lawmakers in testimony Jan. 30 before the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees.

Higher education, he said, "should be one of the cornerstones of New York state's economic plan."

President Barbara Bowen of the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York, and Acting President Fred Floss of United University Professions at the State University, joined Lubin in responding to Gov. Spitzer's budget proposal.

At the current rate of funding, it will take CUNY 34 years "to achieve the student/faculty ratio it enjoyed in the mid-1970s," Bowen said. "Does New York want to wait 34 years until CUNY students receive the kind of one-on-one attention that produces student success? If not, money must be found this year to create at least 500 net new full-time faculty positions."

Floss said, " New York's public colleges and universities have been called 'engines of economic growth.' However, every engine needs fuel, and the fuel that SUNY needs right now is more full-time faculty."

The proposed budget includes a $34.2 million cut in operating aid to SUNY, a $16.7 million cut for CUNY and reductions in the community college formula aid that keep state aid well below the statutory funding obligation of 40 percent of these colleges' net operating costs.

The governor's proposal also includes creation of a higher education endowment, an idea that NYSUT has not rejected out of hand, but which Lubin expressed reservations about in his opening remarks to legislators.

"We know it will take awhile for any endowment to provide meaningful revenue," he said. "Meanwhile, we cannot afford to take a step backward and lose the momentum we have gained in the last two years."

Lubin also spoke on behalf of community colleges, referring to them as "the gateway to higher education for thousands of New York's citizens." He asked the Legislature to increase state base aid by $300 per student.

— Darryl McGrath