N.Y.C. Mayor Keeping Firm Hold on Schools

Legally, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s control over the 1.1 million-student public school system in New York City expired last month, caught in the crossfire of an unrelated political battle in the state legislature.

In reality, though, Mr. Bloomberg’s grip on the nation’s largest school system remains tight, even though state lawmakers—who had been feuding for five weeks over leadership of the New York Senate—failed to pass legislation that would have extended his formal control beyond June 30.

Although supporters of mayoral control have feared that management issues would be difficult to handle without clear authority, the chaos that the mayor had predicted if the law wasn’t extended had not come to pass in the...