Mayoral Control as Governing Capacity

In very large urban school systems, centralized mayoral control can function as an operational capacity lever: concentrating responsibility (mayor + chancellor) enables sustained, large‑scale reforms and clear accountability that diffuse, board‑governed models often cannot deliver. The choice to retain or reform mayoral control is therefore less ideological and more a question of administrative credibility, statutory design, and legislative tradeoffs. — How a state chooses to structure K–12 governance in major cities determines whether reforms persist or dissolve with each leadership change, affecting millions of students and the politics of state renewals and oversight.