AQE Lobby Day in Albany (Photo Courtesy of Alliance for Quality Education)

Last week, activists hoping to avert budget cuts in New York public education — cuts that will have a direct and lasting impact on my child’s future — asked parents like me to join a pro-schools rally on the steps of City Hall. I didn’t go. (My excuse: It was raining pretty hard that day.)

In the past two weeks, several groups have organized bus trips to Albany and offered to take me to the state capitol so I could march and make personal appeals to my lawmakers. I didn’t accept the offers. (My excuse: That’s a full-day commitment, and I've been kind of busy.)

Finally, a fellow parent who always seems to have energy for public service e-mailed me a list of lawmakers’ names and addresses, then asked me to write letters urging them to oppose Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed $1.5 billion cut in the state’s education budget. I didn’t write any letters. (My excuse: Uh …)

Fact is, I’m out of excuses, except for one: I’m a lazy, apathetic father who uses his pessimism about the responsiveness of New York’s elected officials to weasel out of a civic duty to fight for my daughter's educational future. Exhausted by the demands of career, family, and shopping at Fairway, I have little energy left to raise my voice against what I see as a done deal crafted by politicians who are (to quote Woody Allen) “either incompetent or corrupt — sometimes both on the same day.”<!--more-->

There’s evidence to support to my apathy and pessimism. But then I pick up a newspaper, and my justifications crumble.

In Libya, people are literally dying for the right to oust a dictator and form a more responsive government. Similar revolts have already jolted Egypt and Tunisia, and more are brewing in Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria and even Saudi Arabia and Iran. These revolutionaries seek the right to petition a legitimate government and have legally elected lawmakers respond to their demands — a right apathetic Americans like me can’t be bothered to exercise.

Even my countrymen shame my laziness. In Wisconsin, people hoping to preserve public workers’ union rights slept in the state capitol for weeks during nonstop protests. Last April, thousands of New Jersey students walked out of class to protest looming cuts in education. (OK, that may have been cover for Senior Skip Day, but still — you gotta admire the cleverness.) We in New York City love to tout our superiority, yet I’m being humbled by a bunch of Jersey kids and Packers fans.

Enough! As Michael Jackson once sang, it’s time to look at the man in the mirror and make a change. This week, I’ll write those letters to my lawmakers. NO NYC parent has a justifiable excuse not to do at least that. On March 24, I might join the so-called Day of Rage Against the Cuts and march from City Hall to Wall Street, shoulder to shoulder with lefties such as Radical Women, Students Without Borders , and at least three Socialist parties. (It’s not my ideal crowd, but since I skipped last week’s parents’ rally I’ll have to take what I can get.)

If I join the march, I’ll be the guy with his 5-year-old daughter hoisted atop his shoulders, giving her a front-row seat for this exercise in democracy. This way, she can't say she never saw Dad take a stand for his child's future.

Postscript: Several pro-school rallies were announced after this column was posted. New York parents who want to take a stand against cuts in the state’s education budget have several chances this week to join like-minded advocates and send a message to state lawmakers:

-- March 16 in Queens at 92-10 Roosevelt Ave. Rally begins at 11 a.m.

-- March 17 in Brooklyn at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St. Rally begins at 6:30 p.m.

-- March 17 in The Bronx in the Savoy Building at Hostos Community College, 149th Street and Walton Avenue. Rally begins at 6:30 p.m.

-- March 17 in Manhattan on the steps of City Hall, 260 Broadway. Rally begins at 1 p.m.