Sacramento Mayor's Legacy: Improved Schools

By Alan Richard

Sacramento, Calif.

Two months before his death, Mayor Joe Serna stood behind a thin wooden lectern at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School here, and told the crowd gathered that the transformation of Sacramento's schools was something rare and precious.

"All of us had collectively turned our backs on the schools," the mayor said in the August speech, recalling how observers had seen bullet holes in glass doorways, graffiti on walls, and restrooms that didn't work. "Hopefully, those days are gone."

Many in California's capital city of 369,000 credit Mr. Serna, who died of cancer Nov. 7, for pushing changes that now have more children reading at earlier ages, more school buildings scheduled for repair, and more politicians and parents backing an urban school system that was once...