Elections Expected to Affect School Policy

New Jersey, Virginia Elect GOP Governors; N.Y.C. Mayor Wins Again

The results from last week’s state and local elections offer some potentially significant implications for K-12 education, as voters sent two big-city mayors with authority over their school systems back for another term, replaced Democrats with Republicans in two governors’ mansions, and rejected ballot measures in Maine and Washington state that some education advocates feared could harm school coffers.

Both Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City, an Independent, and Democratic Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston won re-election bids. But Mr. Bloomberg—whose education record was a central theme in the campaign, and who reportedly spent at least $90 million of his personal fortune on the race—won with a smaller-than-expected margin, and some observers say he will have a weaker political mandate for his third term.

“We’re all watching him very closely to see how a new, humbled Mike Bloomberg treats education as an issue,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a New York City-based political action committee, which took no...