"Full-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes, after-school activities, technology enhancements, and improved teacher training will have fallen by the wayside," he said.

His plan to avert such a setback is a strategy based on symbolism and old-fashioned horse-trading.

At a morning news conference in City Hall yesterday, Street suggested that the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority could oversee the finances of the Philadelphia School District, much as it does the city's finances. PICA has the power to cut off state funding if the city fails to take steps to prevent budget deficits.

The logic is this: PICA is a state agency, whose five voting members are appointed by the legislature and the governor. It is a symbol of credibility to Harrisburg lawmakers, who have been reluctant to give any more money to the schools. In exchange for that oversight by the state, Street reasons, he could argue more money should come to the district, which now has a $56.3 million gap in its $1.53 billion budget.

"It's a way of giving those people who vote on that money [a role] in determining how that money is spent," Street said.

Street said that within 30 days of his election, he would convene a "PICA Education Oversight Task Force" composed of members of both political parties to begin putting together a new PICA bill that would put give the agency oversight of the school district.

The task force also would try to settle the question of how much money the schools really need. Right now, the state funds 59 percent of the district's budget, which district officials say is not enough for its at-risk student body.

Street said he would present the plan to the City Council and the public 30 days after his inauguration in January.

Beyond that, though, Street was short on details for his plan, saying that they had to be negotiated with the General Assembly next spring and summer.

The schools already are subjected to a great deal of oversight from the state Department of Education and it is unclear what PICA could add to that. PICA has the authority to audit the school district, but not impose sanctions.

PICA could easily gear up for the job, said its director, Joseph Vignola. Since 1996, when Commonwealth Court Judge Doris Smith suggested that PICA ought to oversee school finances, he has put extra money in his budget to cover those costs in case the courts or legislature ordered PICA to look at the district's books.

At the time, Smith was presiding over a decades-old school-desegregation case.

Whether this plan would work is an open question. If Street beats Republican Sam Katz in November, it will be a topic for intense discussion here and in the state capital, according to State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, a West Philadelphia Democrat and Street supporter.

He said PICA oversight lends credibility to any argument the city makes for more state aid.

"Does that mean they'll come up with additional funding?" he asked. "I think we have a long way to go before we get to that."

Some in Harrisburg may not want to tinker with PICA legislation, fearing that in the horse-trading it takes to get bills passed, the city could jeopardize its 1 percent sales tax, which supports PICA borrowings on behalf of the city.

Similar legislation was offered by State Rep. George Kenney Jr., a Republican from the Far Northeast, back in 1996 but was never listed for a hearing and died. His idea was to provide oversight, he said, not to use the oversight as a wedge for more funding.

"I never looked at it to trigger more state money," Kenney said yesterday. "I don't think it necessarily gets you more, but it helps you make a better argument for more."

Bob Barnett, Katz's campaign director, said Street was using the PICA idea to hide from the real responsibilities of fixing the city's schools.

"There's an opportunity to say, 'Put me in charge,' and he's saying, 'No, put them in charge.' It gives you a scapegoat," he said.

Katz has said that as mayor he would take full responsibility for the success or failure of the schools. A plan to accomplish that will be announced as the campaign unfolds, Barnett said.

Katz has said, though, that the state was unlikely to authorize any more money unless the district could prove its schools were doing better.

Student achievement test scores are improving and the district has reduced the number of administrators by 364 since 1991, bringing the total administrative positions to 1,075, according to Bill Epstein, the district's director of government relations. He noted the cuts came as enrollment has shot from 195,000 to about 209,000.

"We're very anxious to tell our story," he said. "We've always assumed that if we were to get significant financial relief in Harrisburg, it would be conditioned on some kind of oversight."