New York City school chancellor may be key to keeping system under mayoral control

Whether the New York state legislature extends the law that handed New York City’s mayor control of its public schools may depend on what lawmakers think about how Chancellor Joel I. Klein has wielded the unprecedented power. In some circles, Klein is revered as a crusader for the underclass, an innovator willing to take on the teachers’ union. But among some state lawmakers, Klein is reviled as an arrogant outsider obsessed with accountability and unwilling to consider parents’ views.