Historically, African-Americans have found work disproportionately in the public sector, including in local school districts, and I argue that this has created impediments to improving public education in majority Black cities. Educational reforms are evaluated primarily based on how they impact adult employment opportunities, not student learning. Often, the loss of local democratic control is necessary to overcome opposition to reforms driven by employment concerns. I illustrate these dynamics with two case studies of (1) the integration of schools in the South after Brown v. Board of Education and (2) the state takeover of New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina.