When Mayors Take Charge School Governance in the City

Large urban school systems have been the weakest link in American education, driving middle-class families into the suburbs while contributing mightily to the racial learning gap. Activist mayors in several major cities have responded by taking control of their public schools. When Mayors Take Charge is the most up-to-date assessment available on this phenomenon.

Joseph Viteritti brings together the leading experts on mayoral control to analyze the factors and people driving this trend as well as its achievements and shortcomings, possible ways to improve its design and implementation, and its prospects for the future.

Part One of When Mayors Take Charge assesses the results of mayoral control nationwide. The second section details the experience in three key cities: Boston and Chicago, the major prototypes for mayoral control, and Detroit, where mayoral control ended in disaster. The final section provides the first in-depth examination of New York City, where the law installing mayoral control sunsets in 2009. Viteritti’s opening essay and postscript frame the analysis, illuminating both the significance and limitations of governance reform.

Advance Praise for the book

"In When Mayors Take Charge, the urgent problem of low-performing urban schools is expertly sliced and diced by a band of historians and political scientists. Policy elites and street-level reformers need to know that mayoral control does matter to democratic participation and managerial efficiency but not necessarily to students' test scores."
—Larry Cuban, Professor Emeritus of Education, Stanford University

"Anyone interested in the ongoing debate about the governance of urban public schools and the role of mayors needs to read this book. Viteritti and his colleagues have made an important contribution to the conversation."
—Michael Casserly, Executive Director, Council of the Great City Schools

"When Mayors Take Charge is a rich book that conveys the challenge of urban school governance and the place of mayoral control as a strategy for balancing democratic and managerial imperatives. Historical analyses provide perspective and in-depth case studies provide insight into how local factors shape reality. Any observer of urban schools will find this book compelling."
—Jane Hannaway, Urban Institute


Contributors include Clara Hemphill (New School University), Jeffrey R. Henig (Columbia University), Michael Kirst (Stanford University), John Portz (Northeastern University), Diane Ravitch (New York University), Wilbur C. Rich (Wellesley College), Robert Schwartz (Harvard University), Dorothy Shipps (Baruch College), and Kenneth K. Wong (Brown University).