So it looks like Gov. Cuomo is serious about being students’ best friend in Albany.

In the budget he’s putting out Tuesday, Cuomo is expected to push for tougher teacher accountability rules by wielding the most formidable weapon in his arsenal: cash.

Sources familiar with Cuomo’s plan say he will offer extra state aid to school systems that get serious about grading teachers — and weeding out the weak links — while holding back money from districts that balk at teacher evaluations.

That carrot-and-stick approach, coupled with the threatened loss of as much as $1 billion in aid from Washington , would give Mayor Bloomberg enormous leverage in negotiations with the United Federation of Teachers, which so far has resisted this crucial step toward fixing schools.

Kudos to Cuomo for putting himself firmly on the right side of what’s shaping up to be the biggest legislative fight of the year.

But it shouldn’t have to come to this.

Mayors who want to improve management of a major city agency — as Bloomberg aims to do with schools — shouldn’t need backup from Albany….

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