As The Voice went to press, chances were good that Congress would approve President Barack Obama’s proposed $819 billion economic stimulus package, which contains $17 billion over two years in aid for New York state.

There are 100 billion pennies in a billion dollars, so this is like New York getting 1,700 billion pennies from heaven.

In a nutshell, it appears that the federal windfall will offset most of the state’s multi-billion dollar deficit, allowing Gov. Paterson to avoid making major cuts to health care, aid to municipalities, environmental programs, and education—­higher ed in particular.

What the governor should do is obvious: he should take this opportunity to restore $25 million in cuts proposed for SUNY’s teaching hospitals and increase the subsidy by $40 million. He should drop the silly plan to merge the New York State Theatre Institute with The Egg. He should do away with proposals to revoke negotiated 3 percent pay raises, add another five-day pay lag and impose drastic changes for current and future retirees.

Deficit reduction plan OK’d

The state’s new Deficit Reduction Plan, announced Feb. 3, supposedly closes the state’s current $1.6 billion deficit without the use of federal stimulus dollars or any state reserve spending. It also allots $800 million to help reduce next year’s projected $13 million shortfall. Gov. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith have agreed on the plan.

For higher education, that means receiving approval to collect and spend the 10 percent of funds generated by a SUNY tuition increase for 2008-09. In 2009-10, SUNY will keep 20 percent of the funds generated by the full tuition increase of $620 per year.

It certainly makes sense to allow SUNY to keep the tuition increase, although we believe the University should get more than 10 percent of that pie this year. But there is no mention of dollars for our teaching hospitals, let alone any increase of a subsidy.

The Deficit Reduction Plan is a decent first step, but one that doesn’t nearly go far enough. Gov. Paterson should use those billions of pennies from heaven from the federal stimulus package to do right by SUNY and its hundreds of thousands students, parents and employees.

Fax your legislators!

And it’s up to us as a union to continue to bring our message to the governor and state legislators, that protecting and enhancing SUNY means a vibrant University that will be able to meet its mission to provide a quality education to all New Yorkers.

That’s exactly what we did on Jan. 30, when nearly 400 UUPers and others held a rally at the state Capitol demanding state leaders restore and augment funding to SUNY’s teaching hospitals.

On our Web site, you’ll find several letters to fax to your legislators, including one asking them to apportion some of the federal stimulus money to SUNY. Please take the time to send them. We must make our voices heard that SUNY is the solution to the state’s economic woes.

Recovery, Reinvestment

The “Education for the 21st Century” component of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009” is a bold, well-crafted plan that makes good sense for higher education in these troubled times. I wholeheartedly support this measure and urge you to do the same.

If approved, the bill will deliver $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities through existing state and federal formulas. It will provide $15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant, $490 million to support working students, increase the limit on unsubsidized Stafford loans, and send $50 million to aid the Department of Education to administer student aid programs that are on the rise.

Now is also the time to support the American Federation of Teacher’s “Fight for America’s Future” program, which calls on its 1.4 million members to contact local legislators and speak out for increases in public education funding and ways to advance and protect the collective bargaining rights of all American workers.

Finally, fair pay

It’s always nice to end on a positive note, and the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is one long, loud positive note.

As promised, President Obama signed the bill into law on Jan. 29, two days after the House approved it and a week after the Senate passed it. UUP and other unions have supported this legislation for years—­and that makes this victory very sweet indeed.

The law allows women who make less than their male counterparts to sue over wage discrimination that has occurred over a period of years, or even decades. Certainly, equal pay for equal work is what’s right and fair. But it’s more than that, especially to struggling families with both spouses working. Those extra dollars can mean the difference between paying the mortgage and putting food on the table.

This victory is worth savoring, but not at the expense of the war. And make no mistake: We are at war. SUNY is in the fight of its life and we are its only foot soldiers. We must continue to battle to keep SUNY whole, vibrant and accessible for students.