Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times Cathleen P. Black, the New York City schools chancellor, testifying before state legislators in Albany on Tuesday.ALBANY — One by one, school officials hunched over a microphone on Tuesday and appealed to lawmakers for relief from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed budget cuts. For many of them, the annual hearing was a familiar exercise, a wintertime rite marked by its tediousness more than anything else.
But it was a debut performance for Cathleen P. Black, the New York City schools chancellor. For the first time in her new job, Ms. Black testified before members of the Legislature.
It was a test of sorts for Ms. Black, whose qualifications were criticized when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg selected her in November to run the city’s school system, the nation’s largest. But in nearly two hours in front of the lawmakers, Ms. Black held her own. She made no obvious gaffes and never seemed stumped by any of the topics that lawmakers asked her to address.
Ms. Black said she had spent several weeks preparing for the appearance, which came a week after Mr. Bloomberg testified here on Mr. Cuomo’s budget proposal.
She gave herself a positive review afterward. “I felt that they were fair,” she said of the lawmakers. “I thought their questions were substantive. They were responsive, and I think we did O.K.”
Lawmakers seemed satisfied with her testimony. “She gained some points,” said Assemblyman William Colton, a Democrat from Brooklyn, who was once a schoolteacher. “I don’t know that she has a great footing right now in terms of the material,” he added, “but I think she’s learning it, and I think she showed to me at least that she’s into this.”
Ms. Black’s appearance was not without some drama. The moment she sat down at the hearing table, two dozen demonstrators entered the hearing room, gathered behind her and chanted, “Governor Cuomo, don’t kill C.F.E.” That was a reference to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court case, whose settlement mandated more money for city schools — funding that education groups said would essentially be wiped out by Mr. Cuomo’s budget proposal.
After three minutes, the demonstrators marched out, and Ms. Black proceeded with her remarks, which offered a sharp critique of Mr. Cuomo for the same issue that the protesters had raised.
“This is just unjust,” she said.
Like Mr. Bloomberg in his testimony before lawmakers last week, Ms. Black asked for relief from state mandates that she said would “accelerate an already daunting situation” on schools’ finances. In 20 minutes of prepared testimony, she also argued for changes to teacher seniority rules that would give the city more flexibility if layoffs were necessary, and to the pension system for school employees.
“What we are urging you to do is to provide our students with their fair share of state aid, and our city with the tools and reforms needed to end unnecessary mandates and crippling policies,” she said.
In the question-and-answer session that followed, lawmakers were considerably rougher with Ms. Black than they had been with the mayor, challenging her on topics including teacher seniority and school closings.
But Ms. Black seemed to take special care to be diplomatic in her responses, and there were no tense moments in the nearly 90 minutes she took questions. But she did sometimes defer to Dennis M. Walcott, the deputy mayor for education and community development, who was seated next to her and seemed ready to step in if any lawmaker got particularly aggressive.
The hearing, which included testimony from school officials, labor unions and nonprofit organizations from around the state, was the longest of the budget season, lasting more than eight hours.
Each official brought a set of warnings for the lawmakers. The commissioner of the State Education Department, David M. Steiner, said Mr. Cuomo’s proposed budget could force the elimination of some Regents examinations. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York made the case for greater parental choice in selecting schools.
In what aides to the governor described as an effort to show his seriousness about the need for schools to accept the reductions in financing, Mr. Cuomo sent Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy to the hearing to defend the budget and argue that schools can blunt its impact by cutting the cost of their own bureaucracy.
Mr. Duffy announced that Mr. Cuomo planned to make available “waste reduction teams” to visit school districts and recommend budget cuts if the districts themselves say they are unable to find ways to save money.
Comments are no longer being accepted.