It is a tenuous moment for those dreaming of new charter schools in Massachusetts.

The recession gripping the country promises to stretch the state budget and thin the stream of education dollars that fund charter schools and bolster local spending on traditional public schools.

At the same time, Gov. Deval Patrick's administration continues to work toward an ambitious new wide-ranging education plan, already facing serious questions about affordability, that calls for the creation of new public schools similar to charters, but little mention of new charters themselves.

This winter the state is slated to rule on three applications for new charter schools — including the proposed Gloucester Community Arts Charter School — the smallest number of finalists for new charters in seven years.

As in most years, the proposals are facing loud opposition from teachers unions, school superintendents and local elected officials who warn of severe cuts to existing schools and municipal services if more charters are created. Cities and towns are already bracing for cuts in local aid from the state for the next fiscal year and are fearful that midyear cuts could scramble their current budgets.

"Each time there is a fiscal crisis, there is more hostility," said Dominic Slowey, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Charter Public Schools about expansion of charters this week. "It gets more intense during a downtime."

Although confident that the three current proposals will be judged on their educational merits and boasting support from most state and national officeholders, charter backers in Massachusetts are acknowledging a challenging environment to create new schools.

A large part of their concern surrounds Patrick, who has pledged support for the independent public schools but has called for changes to the way they are currently paid for.

During his 2006 campaign for governor, against opponents who strongly favored expanding charters, Patrick said he wanted to fix the mechanism that funds the schools before lifting the current cap on new schools. The cap would not affect any of the three proposed schools.

Patrick's comprehensive education plan, the Readiness Project, proposes creating throughout the state a series of Readiness Schools, schools freed, like charters, from many of the work rules and strictures in traditional district public schools.

The Readiness Project, which the Patrick administration has been rolling out and may be scaling back, does not include expansion of charter schools among its priorities.

Slowey said when Patrick first announced plans for Readiness Schools, charter school proponents saw them as a validation of the charter model, but recent comments by Patrick administration officials, including Secretary of Education Paul Reville, have caused some concern.

"In the beginning, we saw (the Readiness Project) as a blessing for charters," Slowey said. "Since then Reville has seemed to advocate Readiness as an alternative to charters."

Although Patrick is not on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which has the final vote on approving charters, he appoints members who are and charter opponents have appealed to him to establish a moratorium.

Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Education, said this week that the economic turmoil was "forcing us to take a deeper look" at charters, as with other plans, with an eye toward fiscal restraint.

"It adds a greater layer of complexity to the charter approval process," Palumbo said about the recession's affect on charters.

Palumbo denied the assertion that Readiness Schools and new charter schools could not coexist, but said Readiness Schools might be able to bring some of the innovation of charters without the heated opposition from cities and towns.

"If there is resistance to charters, we want to find a way to adopt the best practices of them as part of a long-term strategy," Palumbo said.

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools run independently from local school districts, paid for with state aid dollars diverted from the host district.

The host districts are given declining reimbursement for their loss of aid in the first three years of charter enrollment, a state allocation for each new charter approved.

The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School is being touted as an alternative learning environment that will provide innovative, individualized teaching and keep students now using School Choice to attend classes in other public districts, in Gloucester.

Gloucester school and city officials have come out overwhelmingly against the charter proposal because of an estimated $2.4 million annually in state aid that would be diverted to fund the charter school when fully enrolled.

This week Mayor Carolyn Kirk warned that the cuts necessary to make up for that loss in funds would result in not only redistricting, school closures and larger class sizes, but cuts in general municipal services such as public safety.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association, which Gloucester City Council President Bruce Tobey is the current president of, has called for a moratorium on new charters and a review of their funding mechanism.

Peter Van Ness, spokesman for the charter founding group, yesterday said he did not know whether the current economic climate would have any impact on the Gloucester application, but said he was confident that on the merits, the charter would be approved.

If no moratorium is put in place, the decision to grant charters to the three new applicants rests with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is slated to vote in February.

Before the vote, Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester will issue a recommendation on the applications.

The last day written comments on applications can be submitted to Chester is Jan. 5.

In addition to the planned kindergarten through eighth grade Gloucester charter, the state is reviewing applications from a statewide school located in Waltham and a school serving Leicester, Oxford and Worcester.

In 2008 three new charter schools were approved out of five finalists. In 2007, one new charter was granted from five finalists.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.