ALBANY -- The winners of a landmark education lawsuit nominated on Thursday "special masters" who could decide how to spend billions of state dollars, but did not recommend former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

The Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which won the 2003 suit, had been considering the former Democratic governor, but news of Cuomo's potential role immediately polarized Albany. CFE won the case over Gov. George Pataki, the Republican who defeated Cuomo in 1994 and often used Cuomo and his "failed policies of the past" as a foil.

CFE's candidates to become court-appointed masters are: Robert Berne, a senior vice president at New York University; Richard Elmore, a professor at Harvard's School of Education; Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF; Alvin Thornton, associate provost and professor at Howard University; and John Kiernan, a partner in the law firm of Debevoise and Plimpton.

The names were submitted to state Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse, who is preparing to appoint special masters if the Legislature and Pataki can't agree on a response to the court order by the July 30 deadline. DeGrasse isn't limited by the nominations from CFE or from the Pataki administration, which hasn't released its candidates.

A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity in May said CFE was considering Cuomo, former state Education Commissioner Thomas Sobol and former New York City mayoral candidate and Public Advocate Mark Green.

Since then, DeGrasse has set specific criteria for special masters.

"We considered those," CFE Executive Director Michael Rebell said of Cuomo, Sobol and Green. "Once the news came out, we had many suggestions."

He wouldn't discuss any of the potential candidates but said they were chosen for their ability to work with others and for specific backgrounds to fill different needs on the panel.

CFE said more than $9 billion a year more in state aid is required to assure that children in New York City and other high-needs school districts get the sound education required by the state constitution.

The legislative session ended this week without an agreement on how to reform education spending.