As state leaders gathered last Friday to hammer out a deal on New York’s unprecedented $16 billion budget deficit, two small demonstrations sprouted in Bedford Park and Fordham to offer Albany some advice. At a haphazard press conference in front of the Doctors Medical Group on Bedford Park Boulevard near Webster Avenue, Councilman Joel Rivera joined representatives of the United Caribbean Congress and local clergy members to condemn deep cuts to local hospitals proposed by Gov. David Paterson and voice support for Fair Share Tax Reform, a tax increase for wealthier New Yorkers championed by a coalition of unions, social service organizations, and the Working Families Party as the best way to avoid cuts to human services during the economic crisis.

Not far away, Laura Olivero, a senior at Bronx International High School, stood in the shadow of the Kingsbridge Road #4 train station, lifting her voice above the din of the subway as she protested the governor’s proposed cuts to the state education budget.

For over an hour, Olivero and about 15 other high school students from Youth On The Move and Sistas and Brothas United passed out flyers and urged passersby to call their state legislators and support Fair Share Tax Reform as a way to avoid education cuts.

 Students at her high school already take classes in hallways, the library, the auditorium, in trailers outside, on a staircase landing, and even, last year, in the principal’s office, Olivero said.

“I don’t know what they expect,” she said. “Do they want us to take classes on the street?”

On Monday, the students and healthcare advocates got some good news. Paterson and legislative leaders announced a budget agreement which includes a scaled-back version of the Fair Share Tax Reform plan.

Education funding will not be cut, and healthcare cuts, while extensive, will not be as deep as proposed, said Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

In announcing the budget, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said it “asks the wealthiest to pay a little more so that working families in New York State will suffer a little less.”

Under the current system, all New Yorkers making over $40,000 have their income taxed at 6.85%. The budget creates two new tax brackets. A couple making between $300,000 and $500, 000 (or individuals with incomes above $200,000) will now be taxed at 7.85%, while those making $500,000 or more will be taxed at 8.97%.

The increase will bring the state an estimated $4 billion a year until it expires after three years. The budget is expected to pass the legislature this week.

With so many programs looking to the tax increase to shield them from cuts, some were disappointed. Assemblyman Jose Rivera, who balked at a proposal to prevent the MTA’s “doomsday” fare hikes and service cuts because the proposal imposed tolls on Harlem and East River bridges, had suggested the tax increase might provide an alternative solution.

But the budget does not include money for the MTA, which the legislature will have to take up separately.