Some mayors see their local school systems ripe for takeover

10/14/03 -- A growing number of mayors want to eliminate their cities' school boards and combine their public school systems with city hall.

As Fresno, Calif., Mayor Alan Autry, puts it, "not one urban school system is working." The long-term solution, "until we get local control," he says, is to combine city government with the school system.

At the 2003 Mayors' Education Summit, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, mayors from cities of various sizes talked about how they can wrestle control of their school systems away from their local school boards.

A resolution passed by the group at the summit, held in Washington, D.C., Sept. 22-23, calls for mayors to develop "real working relationships with local school superintendents, school boards, teacher organizations, parents, students, and other education stakeholders."

But for some mayors, the goal is not simply to improve their relationships with school boards, but to replace them altogether. The mayors point to the success of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, in taking control of his city's school system a decade ago -- and more recent mayoral takeovers in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, and Harrisburg, Pa.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams, a vocal supporter of a federally funded voucher program, says he is seeking city council backing to take control of the school system. Williams already has the power to appoint four of the board's nine members.

And in Pittsburgh, a commission appointed by Mayor Tom Murphy released a report Sept. 22 recommending that the city do away with an elected school board and instead have the mayor appoint school board members.

Eli Broad, founder of the Broad Foundation, which co-hosted the summit, spoke about the need for mayors to extend their influence over public education by gaining more authority over charter schools, actively recruiting school board candidates, and defining the issues on which candidates should focus.

And, according to Broad, "where there is systemic education failure, mayors should not hesitate to take the steps necessary to assume control of school districts."

Michael Kirst, professor of education and business administration at Stanford University, warned the mayors at the summit that their attempts to take over their school systems are up against a "deeply seated political culture that mayors should keep their hands off the schools."

Nevertheless, Kirst advised the mayors to pursue takeovers because there would be "a single point of accountability." City government could better integrate children's services, Kirst says, and "mayors could restore school legitimacy by overcoming bureaucratic inertia," thus providing "a major jolt to the system."

Kirst proposes that school boards be changed to "education policy boards" and be stripped of their authority to handle judicial and administrative matters. "If they don't do this, they will face mayoral control," he says.

"Like it or not, we are accountable," says St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "School board members in St. Louis aren't accountable to the public. No one knows who they are."

Several mayors at the conference addressed the difficulty of a complete takeover, and proposed instead constructive ways that mayors can support public schools without taking over the day-to-day responsibility for managing them.

San Jose, Calif., Mayor Ron Gonzalez, for example, says mayors can take steps to recruit teachers, keep schools safe, provide after-school programs, encourage innovation, celebrate success in raising student achievement, build strong relationships with school leaders, and keep education on top of the city's agenda.

Mayor Stephen C. Padilla of Chula Vista, Calif., says the "traditional school board model is not producing the right results." But he questions whether mayoral control would be any more effective, noting there is "just as much politics" in city government. "We need to find new models of mayoral roles, not just mayoral control. . . . If mayors take over, what do we do differently?"

"Clearly, there is concern on the part of some mayors about the condition of the schools in their cities, but the route of takeover is fraught with danger," says NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. "There is no research -- anecdotal or real -- that says appointed boards are per se more efficient than elected boards."

Bryant cites Chicago and Providence, R.I., as "perfect examples where they've gone from appointed to elected (because of the corrupt officials appointed by the mayor) and back to appointed."