Takeover

More about the book

In 1989, New Jersey became the first state to take over a local school district, in Jersey City. Since then, over 100 school districts have been taken over by their respective states, including in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Oakland. This book offers the first systematic study of this phenomenon. Based on historical analysis, case studies, and a dataset of nearly 1000 school districts, Takeover argues that the devolution of authority to state governments, which led to the emergence of state takeovers, was a response to the rise of Black political empowerment in American cities. At the same time it demonstrates that under certain conditions, state takeovers can advance Black and Latino political empowerment, contrary to conventional wisdom.