Mayoral Leadership and Involvement in Education AN ACTION GUIDE FOR SUCCESS THE UNITED STATES CONF ERENCE OF MAYO RS Table of Contents: 3 LETTER THE UNITED STATES 4 INTRODUCTION CONFERENCE OF MAYORS 6 THE POLITICAL CONTEXT FOR TODAY’S MAYORAL ROLE IN EDUCATION Manuel A. Diaz Mayor of Miami 8 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES MAYORS FACE IN EDUCATION President Greg Nickels 11 DETERMINING THE MAYOR’S ROLE IN EDUCATION Mayor of Seattle Vice President 14 TYPES OF MAYORAL INVOLVEMENT AND STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION Elizabeth A. Kautz Mayor of Burnsville 16 CREATING CONSTRUCTIVE CONDITIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE CHANGE Second Vice President Tom Cochran ISSUES IN FOCUS: CEO and Executive Director 18 School Budgets and Finance -- A Must-Know Issue for Mayors 21 Creating a Portfolio of Schools -- How Mayors Can Help 23 Mayors and the School District Central Office -- The Action Guide has been made possible by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A Delicate Balance in the Politics of Change 27 MAYOR TO MAYOR: DO’S, DON’TS AND WORDS OF WISDOM 29 CONCLUSION 30 ADDITIONAL READING 33 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Printed on Recycled Paper. DO YOUR PART! PLEASE RECYCLE! May 18, 2009 Dear Mayor: I am pleased to present you with a copy of Mayoral Leadership and Involvement in Education: An Action Guide for Success. This publication provides information, strategies, ideas and examples to assist you in becoming more involved with education in your city. As a mayor, you know how critically important good schools are in promoting the economic development, vitality and image of your city. Many mayors like you have expressed a desire to become more involved in local education issues, policies and programs because you understand the consequences for your city if student performance stagnates and your schools are found “in need of improvement.” Education is a key issue mayors have used to improve public perceptions of their cities. Mayors have issued calls to improve their cities’ school systems as a way to unify citizens to solve problems that affect every resident, whether or not they have school-aged children. Make no mistake: your involvement in education and school-related issues makes a difference, no matter what level of input you seek to have. This includes being an advocate for improvement, as well as partnering with and supporting the school system to make necessary changes. I thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its support in making this publication possible. The U.S. Conference of Mayors continues to work closely with the Foundation to improve and expand mayoral leadership and involvement in education in order to ensure every child has the opportunity to receive a quality education. O L S C H O This publication is a valuable addition to this organization’s well-established efforts to assist mayors on issues that directly affect their cities. When important issues arise, please know that The Conference of Mayors will continue to provide you with the resources you need. Sincerely Tom Cochran CEO and Executive Director The Action Guide for Success | page 3 The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has also intensified This Action Guide will help mayors answer these questions. Introduction the need for mayors to become more involved in public education. The purpose of the Guide is to: With its demand for higher standards and accountability, standardized • Help mayors understand the range of education issues testing and measurable results, NCLB has dramatically changed and problems they may find themselves facing; the dynamics of public education and presents many challenges for urban school districts and the cities in which they are located. • Provide ideas and strategies for potential involvement “We face the great challenges of education. I’ll say it here and now: Student achievement is being scrutinized as never before in urban in education; Reforming our public schools is the central public policy issue of our centers, and in many cities, those connected to public education • Convey specific information about school finance, management, are facing the painful realization that schools and their students and education reform issues; and time. We all know that this is the one way we can give more are not achieving at high levels. As these challenges come to light, • Give mayors advice on what to do and what not to do when mayors will be asked to address the shortcomings of their cities’ becoming engaged. of our people a meaningful shot at a better life.” schools and will need to know what can be done to fix them. Increasingly, mayors also are being asked about the marked Throughout this Action Guide , four central themes of mayoral leadership Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, New Mayors’ Conference, Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, differences between the composition of the teaching force in their and involvement in education are emphasized: advocacy, capacity, Harvard University, November 30, 2005. cities, the students these teachers serve, and how to achieve a better implementation and sustainability . The Action Guide is intended balance between the two. to provide useful information to mayors no matter the role they have or will consider in education. On a broader level, a mayor’s already-existing responsibilities for ayoral leadership and involvement in a difference in public education through informal involvement with public health, safety and welfare compel a greater role in education This Guide’s goal is to assist mayors in making choices in how they education is not new. In fact, from the local schools and by exercising their leadership in multiple ways. as well. Mayors are the key actors in formulating policies and may get involved in the school systems of their cities. This may By using their authority over public safety, health and social service programs that have a direct impact on children’s lives and have include recruitment of quality teachers, supporting new charter Mdevelopment of the first public schools agencies, parks and recreation facilities and a host of other schools, developing afterschool programs or providing college a unique ability to foster collaboration between school, health and in the 1850s until the 1930s, most mayors had resources, mayors can make a direct impact on the lives of children— social services. Today, it takes more than a school or school system scholarships to high school graduates in their districts. The Guide and improve their educational outcomes—without becoming to educate a student—and mayors can ensure children have both provides principles, suggestions and ideas for mayoral leadership direct authority over education. In a few cities, directly involved in the governance of the school system. a quality educational experience and appropriate health and social and involvement, and also explains the political, financial and bureaucratic problems with which mayors are confronted when mayors have maintained this formal role to the Most American cities are facing rapidly changing demographics, services vital to a child’s opportunity to learn. Some mayors are interested in addressing core issues in school systems directly, they become more involved in public education. Even though one present day. Since the early 1990s, some mayors more complex social problems, heightened calls from employers might think all cities and their education issues are the same, they are to properly prepare the future workforce and increased scrutiny while others may become involved by supporting issues that are of American cities—such as Boston, Chicago, related—but no less vital—to school systems, such as out of-school not. Each city has its own unique political and cultural traditions. by state and federal governments to promote better outcomes for As such, there is an array of approaches and types of involvement Cleveland, Harrisburg and New York—have sought children. Combined with the needs of multiple constituencies who youth programs, workforce development efforts, social services and library, museum, arts and cultural programs. from which a mayor can choose when deciding how to be engaged. greater accountability over public education by vary with respect to ethnicity, race, income and citizenship, as well as the striking difference in background between those who teach With the possibilities for mayoral involvement, two pivotal We hope you will use this Action Guide to find the solutions that calling for and receiving the authority to directly and those who are taught in our cities’ public schools, these questions for mayors are asked: best fit your city’s particular education challenges. select their city’s schools superintendent and issues have increased mayoral concern about local education. All of these issues are linked to the vitality and quality of cities, a fact • What role should I have as the chief elected official of my city school board members. that ultimately compels greater involvement in education by mayors. to ensure that every child has the opportunity to have a quality educational experience? Citizens naturally look to mayors to provide leadership in the face However, during this same time, mayors of many other cities— of these demands, and hold mayors accountable for their ability • What can I do to align my city’s services and resources such as Louisville, Indianapolis, Long Beach, Nashville, San Jose, to provide solutions, no matter what formal authority over the to provide that opportunity? Akron, Columbus, St. Louis, St. Petersburg and Denver—have schools the mayor may have. become more involved in education in a variety of ways without changing their formal role in school governance. Mayors can make page 4 | The Action Guide for Success The Action Guide for Success | page 5 In considering whether and how to become more involved in public St. Louis Mayor In Th education, mayors need to consider not only the broad political eir Francis G. Slay O The Political Context context of their cities, but also the structural context in which they are wn working.