UFT President Michael Mulgrew presented the union’s legislative priorities — including more direct school aid and a moratorium on high-stakes testing — to dozens of state legislators at an early-morning gathering in Albany on the day of the joint budget hearing on education.

“Thanks for all the work you have done with the UFT and with NYSUT,” said Mulgrew to the lawmakers. “It’s the work of people coming together, trying to figure out difficult situations and making it work.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was in attendance, as was Assembly Education Chair Catherine Nolan; Assembly Higher Education Chair Deborah Glick; Senate Education Chair John Flanagan; Sen. Dean Skelos and Sen. Jeffrey Klein, the co-leaders of the majority coalition of the Senate; Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the Senate Democrats; and many more.

On state funding, Mulgrew got straight to the point: “We need more school aid. It’s just that simple. When we are looking at thousands of teacher layoffs across the state and increasing class size, something’s wrong.”

Mulgrew talked about the need for a moratorium on high-stakes tests until the instructional materials are developed to teach to the new Common Core standards and teachers receive proper training.

He noted that funding for Teacher Centers was crucial in this context. “How are you going to implement all this if you don’t have quality professional development on the ground?” he asked.

Mulgrew told the legislators that the best way to fund the pre-K expansion was Mayor de Blasio’s proposal to tax the wealthy, which would shield the program from the ups and downs of yearly budget allocations.

About the governor’s proposed $20 million Teacher Excellence Fund, Mulgrew said, “We don’t believe in individual merit pay, but if we can use that funding to build a career ladder, to recognize the teachers who understand the craft of education and are able to help other teachers, that could be a great use of that funding.”

Vowing to support more direct school aid, funding for universal pre-K and appropriate implementation of the Common Core, Speaker Silver said, “When it comes to the future of our children, there’s no one that the New York City delegation would rather stand with than Michael Mulgrew and the UFT.”