Panoramic shot from the stage shows the crowd stretching to the State Museum in the distance.

With a steely determination, the Legislature overwhelmingly overrode the governor's vetoes of health care and education funding - just in time for school districts to update their plans for the June 3 statewide school budget vote.

In all, lawmakers on May 15 overrode all 119 of the governor's vetoes of nearly $2 billion in restorations to K-12, higher education and health care. A veto override requires a two-thirds majority in both the Assembly and Senate.

The March for Public Education sponsors thank the legislators who stood up for education funding, especially a dozen Assembly Republicans who went against the wishes of their leader and voted yes.

The Senate's unanimous action was unprecedented. In the Assembly, where Democrats hold a 103-47 majority, 12 Republicans crossed over to join in the school aid override.

The governor, whose campaign committee purchased two minutes of primetime television to tell New Yorkers why he was vetoing the bills, called the Legislature "irresponsible" and said there could be legal challenges. However, he pledged he won't challenge the extra school aid so that districts can move forward on preparing their budgets.

Senate and Assembly leaders said their $93 billion budget, which is $2 billion more than the governor's, should prevent double-digit property tax hikes, school staff layoffs and program eliminations. Aside from school aid, restorations included funding for teacher centers, BOCES aid, pre-kindergarten, and early-grade class size reduction.

Pro-education activists from around the state sent thousands of faxes, made visits and phone calls to their lawmakers. Legislators were also buoyed by the massive May 3 march, which drew thousands of New Yorkers urging lawmakers to override the governor.

"We risk losing summer school programs, academic intervention programs - all the programs that enrich the kids," said Ken Conrad, a fourth-grade teacher in Poughkeepsie. "There are other ways to get money."

"I have 22 kids in my second-grade class but my classes would go to 28 to 32 kids," said Tony Mauriello, a Troy teacher who came to the march with his 4-year-old daughter, Amelia. "I'm here for Amelia and my students."