Here's just a sampling of today's Pre-State of the State news articles from around the state:

Crain's New York
Paterson to deliver state of state address

Star Gazette
Paterson to defend proposed budget cuts

NY1
Paterson To Address Financial Crisis In State Of State Address

18 WETM, Elmira
Local Workers Board Bus to Rally in Albany

Capital News 9
Paterson prepares for state of the state speech

13 WHAM, Rochester
Paterson Warns State of State Address will be Grim Financial Picture

The Daily News
Paterson Warns State of State Address will be Grim Financial Picture

The Daily Gazette, Schenectady
Unions plan rally, march to protest state budget cuts

Today, Governor Paterson announced that he will be traveling across upstate New York, after giving his State of the State address on Wednesday, to hold a series of town hall meetings and other events "to hear the concerns of everyday residents and to deliver his agenda for the coming year as we confront historic economic challenges." (read the release here.)

The first of the town hall meetings is scheduled for this Sunday, January 11th, at 5:00pm in Watertown. You can click here to RSVP starting tomorrow.

These meetings will be a great opportunity to send our message that New York's budget can't be balanced on the backs of working families. Instead, we need a real revenue solution first, before any critical services and programs are cut.

By Jon Greenbaum, Metro Justice Organizer

(Click here to see the original post)

Wall Street had a party in the 90’s and we weren’t invited. Now that the party is over it isn’t right to ask our children to clean it up.

Governor Paterson is confronted with a $15 billion deficit and is talking about shared sacrifice. He is asking us to tighten our belts, proposing $2.5 billion in cuts from our children’s classrooms (on top of reneging on a court ordered increase of $1.9 billion in education funding the Governor is proposing and additional $700 million in education cuts).

But not everybody will feel the burden of these budget cuts in the same way. The cuts will have a disproportionate impact on upstate residents with low incomes and people of color. But aside from a symbolic gesture of taxing things like furs and jets, the Governor is not proposing that the wealthiest New Yorkers step up to pay their fair share.

Time for a Reversal of the Upside Down Policies of the Past, Says Citizen Action

(Click here to download a pdf of this release)

Albany – Citizen Action of New York criticized the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget released today by Governor David Paterson for not increasing taxes on high-income individuals, which would have permitted him to avoid additional cuts to critical services New Yorkers depend on.

“Low income and middle class New Yorkers are hurting from the combined effects of the national and state policies that have led to mortgage foreclosures, job losses, health care premium increases, and cuts in public services. Last month, New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly for a total reversal of the upside down policies of the past two decades towards an economy that works for all of us,” said Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York. “President-Elect Obama is leading the way by proposing a bold stimulus package to jump-start the economy. Unfortunately, Governor Paterson is taking a very different approach: cutting education, and other critical state investments, while refusing to ask the wealthy who benefited from the boom to make any contribution.”

“Cuts in school aid will not only harm children, they will also damage our state's fragile economy. Our children's future and our State's economic future both require that we balance the budget by asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay their fair share, rather than cutting school aid. After years of under-funding and delays, in 2007 the state finally committed to reducing class size, investing in teacher quality, and expanding reading, math, after school, pre-school and English language learner programs. The Governor’s budget cuts would undo these advancements and reverse our progress toward closing the racial achievement gap," said Scharff, who is also co-chair of the Alliance for Quality Education.

“No one can deny the budget deficit is real. However, the underlying problem is not increased spending on education and health care, but tax policies of the last two decades that have reduced the share of taxes contributed by the wealthy, and provided loopholes to allow large corporations to avoid their fair share of taxes. “The issue is whether we should address the deficit by asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to contribute a little bit more by raising the income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, or whether to slash programs that the poor, people of color and the middle class depend on.”

Scharff pointed to findings that the large multi-year tax cuts enacted between 1994 and 2005 are now reducing state revenue by over $17 billion per year.

“Governor Paterson is asking everyone to share the burden, but he’s forgetting that not all New Yorkers will feel the burden the same,” said Scharff. “It’s like we are all on a mountain, but some are standing at the top and some are barely holding on. If we all take one step down, it will be mostly poor people and people of color who will fall off the edge.”

Citizen Action of New York is a statewide membership organization that organizes for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Citizen Action maintains a new web page to provide the public with information to be more effective in fighting for a fair budget: www.fightthecuts.org.

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Educating Our Children –vs- Protecting The Wealthy

(Albany, NY) The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), Citizen Action of New York (CANY), the New York Immigration Coalition, New York City Coalition for Educational Justice, Education Voters and Advocates for Children of New York called Governor Paterson's 2009 executive budget proposal unfair and unreasonable. The Governor’s budget cuts committed education funding by more than $2.5 billion. The Governor’s budget would deliver $698 million less in funding next school year than in the current year, but as the Governor’s own budget asserts the actual cut in committed school funding that will be used to close the state’s deficit is $2.5 billion. (2009-10 Executive Budget Briefing Book page 50).

The groups are calling for a balanced approach to closing the budget with options that include upwards of $5 billion in new revenue by increasing taxes on New Yorkers who earn at least $250,000 annually. The school aid cuts contained in the Governor’s proposal undermine the state’s constitutional obligation to substantially increase funding in under-funded and high needs school districts as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The $2.5 billion proposed reduction in committed funding represents the largest proposed school aid cut in the history of the state.

"The governor has shifted the unbearable burden of closing the budget gap onto the shoulders of school children while sparing the wealthiest New Yorkers. Asking school children to sacrifice $2.5 billion in school funding to pay for the state's deficit problems while requiring nothing from New York's highest income earners is irresponsible," said, Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education.

"Governor Paterson's proposed education budget gets a failing grade. By cutting $2.5 billion from committed funding, and extending the CFE phase-in from four to eight years, he is turning back the clock on the state's legislated obligation to keep the CFE promise. By refusing to propose progressive across the board revenue options, New York’s 15 year education budget deficit will now grow to 21 years, and the price will be paid by our neediest students. Simply put, the Governor is using bad arithmetic. The future of our neediest students and their constitutional rights must not be subtracted from our state's budget," said Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity.

A poll released this week by the Working Families Party shows that 75% of New Yorkers oppose cuts to school aid and 75% support income tax hikes on those earning over $200,000. A second poll released by the Citizens Committee for Children of New York found that 77% of New Yorkers favored income tax hikes on those making over $250,000 as opposed to the property tax hikes that will result from cuts in state school aid.

"Cuts in school aid will not only harm children, they will also damage our state's fragile economy. Our children's future and our State's economic future both require that we balance the budget by asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay their fair share, rather than cutting school aid. After years of under funding and delays, the state finally committed to reducing class size, investing in teacher quality, and expanding reading, math, after school, pre-school and English language learner programs. These budget cuts would undo these advancements and be a huge setback for students," said Karen Scharff, Citizen Action of New York Executive Director.

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
1:00 pm
(Please arrive by 12:45 pm)
City Hall Steps (New York City)

On December 9th, the City Council will vote on Mayor Bloomberg’s recommendations for mid-year budget cuts to schools, dental clinics, senior services, child care and other services vital to all New Yorkers.

Sponsored by One New York: Fighting for Fairness, a coalition of over 190 community organizations, human service agencies and labor unions.

From Newsday.com

Paterson: Stimulus funds would be put to work quickly

BY JAMES T. MADORE

December 3, 2008

ALBANY - New York would start a host of building projects "within a month" of receiving federal stimulus money, Gov. David A. Paterson said yesterday.

State officials have identified 40 "shovel-ready" transportation and 58 wastewater treatment projects that have been stalled because of the two-year, $15-billion budget deficit. But with money from Washington, as part of a second stimulus package, work could begin almost immediately, he said.

"What we would need is some federal assistance because our budget is so much in deficit we may not be able to afford it right now," Paterson told reporters in Philadelphia. "An economic stimulus should be translated into action in New York within a month."

Dr. Lawrence Wittner, a professor of history at the University at Albany, and winner of Citizen Action's 2007 Jim Perry Progressive Leadership Award, wrote this article for the History News Network.

(Click here to see the original article.)

How Not to Deal with the Oncoming Depression: The Case of New York State By Lawrence S. Wittner

Dr. Wittner is Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany. His latest book, co-edited with Glen H. Stassen, is Peace Action: Past, Present, and Future (Paradigm Publishers).

New York State's public services—particularly education, healthcare, and programs for the poor—are currently in turmoil thanks to state budget slashing led by Governor David Paterson.

In the spring of 2008, shortly after the legislature adopted the 2008-09 budget, Paterson ordered a 3.35 percent cut in the operating budgets of state agencies. Later in the year, pointing to a $630 million deficit that had opened up in the 2008-09 budget and to a projected $6.4 billion deficit in the one for 2009-10, he ordered state agencies to make additional 7 percent cuts. In August, under pressure from the governor, the New York State legislature enacted measures that will cut back expenditures significantly in both fiscal years. And in mid-November, Paterson proposed an additional $2 billion in spending cuts for 2008-09.

The Senate Democrats have scheduled three public forums over the next few weeks to discuss receive public input regarding the state budget, especially regarding funding for education, health care, and human services.

This is a great opportunity to make sure that our leaders in the Legislature understand that cuts to education, health care, and human services are not the answer to our economic problems.

Be sure to attend these important forums and make your voice heard!

Here is a list of the events:

Buffalo, New York
December 9, 2008
9:00 AM
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Pkwy #1
Buffalo, NY

Brookhaven, New York
December 11, 2008
10:00 AM
Brookhaven Town Hall
1 Independence Hill
Farmingville, NY

Oswego, New York
December 19, 2008
10:00 AM
SUNY Oswego
Campus Center Auditorium
7060 Route 104
Oswego, NY

Click here to read the original notice.

Click "read more" below to see the full announcement.

November 25, 2008

Dear School Board Presidents and District Superintendents,

New York is facing a historic fiscal crisis. Over the next four years, we must close a record $47 billion deficit. Given the magnitude of this problem, every area of State spending, including education, will have to experience reductions.
I have been voicing my concerns about the impact of the current economic downturn on our State finances since the day I took office. In August, I convened the Legislature for a special session, during which we worked together to enact $1 billion of reductions over two years. At the time, schools were held harmless to recognize the impending beginning of the school year.

By October, the economic downturn had become so severe that no area of the budget could be exempt from reductions. As such, on November 12, I proposed an $836 million mid-year reduction in aid to school districts for 2008-09. This proposal would have provided most, though not all, districts with increased funding from last year, and would have still allowed overall School Aid to increase by 16 percent over the last two years. However, at last week’s special session, the Legislature did not act. While school aid reductions remain on the table, it is unlikely the Legislature will consider them any time soon. Therefore, we would be well into the final quarter of our fiscal year and even further into the school year before any action would likely occur. Unfortunately, this timing renders the proposal impractical for this fiscal year and I am withdrawing it. However, I will put forward further school aid reductions in the early budget that I will deliver in three weeks.