The week ahead could be Governor Pataki’s last in budget negotiations with the state Senate and Assembly, as the three parties race to finish a budget by the April 1 deadline. There are three key points in which a strong backbone by the governor could send him out of office as a winner.

The first is education tax credits. The assembly is trying to water this down into a child tax-credit, eviscerating the point of the original legislation – which was to maximize parental choice in schooling, giving to poor families trying to escape a failing public school system the same choice in schooling enjoyed by wealthier families. The effect of divorcing this tax credit from private or parochial school tuition is to turn an innovative policy proposal into a mundane one. A Democrat on the New York City Council, Simcha Felder, has an opinion piece on the opposing page that grasps the issue.

The second is spending levels. New York’s highest-in-the nation level of taxes is inextricably linked with its lavish spending levels. The size of the state budget has ballooned since Mr. Pataki took office, partly as a result of the growth effects of his initial tax and spending restraint. The state’s economy has grown, and the budget has grown with it. But part of the growth is the result of the governor’s failure to hold the line against the powerful interests pressing for more spending. When it comes to spending on government-run schools, those interests include the teachers union and the Bloomberg administration, while when it comes to health care spending, the interests include both the health care workers union and the hospital trustees.

The final issue is the cap on the number of charter schools. Getting a charter school law passed in New York State is one of Governor Pataki’s signal achievements. But the law caps at 100 the number of charters that may be granted, and that cap has already been reached. Lifting the cap is a must if Mr. Pataki is to lay claim to a legacy as an education reformer. It is a point on which he is in sync with Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein’s pioneering efforts and in which he deserves, but will never get, support from a teachers union that itself is operating a charter school.

Mr. Pataki will no doubt try to spin any budget deal as a victory. But he and the taxpayers come out winners in these negotiations only if the budget deal is concluded with a lifting of the charter cap, an education tax credit, and spending growth that doesn’t exceed inflation. Mr. Pataki has by far the better instincts on all these issues than do his negotiating partners, Assembly Speaker Silver and Senate Majority Leader Bruno. The coming week will be a measure of his effectiveness in translating those instincts into gains for New Yorkers.