This article shows how patronage politics affects a popular international education model: community-managed schools (CMS). Focusing on Honduras's CMS initiative, PROHECO (Programa Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria), I demonstrate how patronage can undermine CMS accountability. Whereas supporters argue that CMS increases accountability, partisan incursions systematically block parents from selecting teachers and influencing other features of program management. This account suggests that CMS, like all development and governance initiatives, can be profoundly shaped by the political context. But CMS is not inevitably undermined by patronage. In neighboring Guatemala, CMS reveals little patronage but rather reflects the more salient political Guatemalan legacy: polarization. The article concludes that, to achieve gains in accountability through models of parental participation, donors and education officials should carefully consider political context. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 49 footnotes.)