The district, which is requesting $85 million from the state, shows a $21 million shortfall in its preliminary "lump sum" budget, but that's not unusual at this stage in the budgeting process.

What is unusual - and what will prove to be a test of Harrisburg - is a decision the district has made to scale back on charter schools and grow them more conservatively.

Since the state takeover in 2002, charter schools have grown rapidly; there are now 61 charters. The School Reform Commission believes now is an appropriate time to pause their rapid growth, and plans to approve only two of the 17 charter applications for the fall.

A recent Rand report found that the academic performance of charters is not measurably better than that of district schools. Given that charters, with their $317 million price tag, are one of the major drivers of the district's budget, we think this is a wise path to pursue.

Legislators in Harrisburg have embraced the diversified provider model that combines district schools, education management organizations (EMOs), and charters, so the test for them will be taking the district's plans seriously. Especially since the district's plan for its budget is also to reduce class size in some kindgergarten-through- third-grade classrooms, and introduce art-and-music instruction in each of the district's schools.

We can't help recalling comments from state Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who warned last year that "to mess with the EMOs and to mess with the charters would be a huge mistake for the overall district." He said that he was not going to go along with the district making arbitrary decisions on EMOs and charters.

EMOs and charters have been a cornerstone of the city's school-reform movement. And both have provided an opportunity to expand the notion of traditional education and to provide parents and students with more choices.

Not all have worked, and it's up to the SRC to make sound decisions based on the facts in order to achieve the right balance of EMOs and district schools. From what we can see, that's exactly what it is doing. *