fter seven years of a relatively smooth ride, Massachusetts charter schools are battling increasing opposition from public school officials agitated that they must continue to pay for students at the quasi-independent schools even while slashing their own districts' budgets.

From Beacon Hill to school committee chambers, educators are pushing lawmakers to halt the expansion of charter schools. That effort has prompted the Massachusetts Charter School Association to launch its first grass-roots offensive: inviting legislators to schools, hiring a public relations firm, and touting the charter schools' statewide waiting list of 11,000 students.

''Organizations like the Charter School Association need to get tough, and they need to play hardball, because the other side sure is going to,'' said Charles Chieppo, spokesman for the Pioneer Institute, a Boston policy institute that supports charter schools.

The lobbying on both sides promises to intensify as state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll decides in the next few days which of nine charter schools he will recommend opening in fall 2003, and as school systems face grim budget projections.

''To say, `Let's put money somewhere new' when we can't meet the needs already in place is not a sound decision,'' said Boston School Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Reilinger, whose district faces a $41 million shortfall.

The state Board of Education is expected to vote at its Feb. 26 meeting whether, for the first time, to close a charter school because of academic and administrative problems. In the midst of debate over more charter schools opening, teachers and parents at Lynn Community Charter School are making a case to stay open.

Charter schools are privately run, but receive the same per-student allocation that would otherwise go to their home school district. They operate free of many regulations, such as union contracts. The Commonwealth's 42 charter schools enroll about 15,000 students.

Charter schools have faced only occasional legislative skirmishes since the first one opened in 1995, with many of the state's political leaders voicing strong support. Some charter schools have scored higher than their home districts on the MCAS exam, prompting grumbling by school administrators who say the institutions don't take as many special- or bilingual-education students as do public schools. A year and a half ago the Legislature raised the cap on the number of new charter schools over the next five years, from 50 to 120.

Now, however, school committee members from Boston to Worcester to Great Barrington are urging state officials not to approve more charter schools for at least a year. Representative Thomas J. O'Brien, Democrat of Kingston, has filed a bill to stop new charter schools from opening and to prohibit current ones from expanding.

Acting Governor Jane Swift has proposed slashing the rate at which school systems get reimbursed for charter schools. Right now, communities get money back on a sliding scale for three years; Swift has recommended cutting that to a 33 percent payback rate for one year, and then no reimbursement. This year, even with a reimbursement, charter schools cost their home districts approximately $34 million.

''It's state aid dollars that we'd be getting here that would be going somewhere else,'' said Basan Nembirkow, superintendent of schools in Greenfield, where opposition to a new charter school has been intense.

Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter School Association, said the impact on public schools is minimal because of the reimbursement and because they get other resources that charter schools don't, such as state money for school construction.

Kenen's group has instructed members to call their legislators. So far, 30 schools have hosted about 30 lawmakers. One lawmaker whose office was deluged with calls, Representative Paul E. Tirone, an Amesbury Democrat, has withdrawn his support from O'Brien's bill, at least temporarily.

O'Brien said his proposal, which is being scheduled for a hearing, still has a chance.

''Let's take a timeout. Let's not do any new ones, particularly as we're cutting back programs, and let's not expand any [charter schools],'' he said. ''We don't really know what's happening here financially.''

As the fight intensifies, though, charter school supporters vow to tap their most powerful constituency: parents.

''While there might be legislators or organizations that are not interested in seeing charter schools succeed or expand, I think the pressure from families is just too strong,'' said Brett Peiser, founder and principal of South Boston Harbor Academy Charter School.

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