This article challenges the view that citywide referenda alone are an effective means of ensuring accountability for mayoral control. Through new empirical analysis of the referenda results in Boston and Cleveland, the article shows that rather than establish genuine democratic legitimacy, the referenda in fact mask strong class-based, and in Boston race-based opposition to the reform strategy. The article proceeds as follows. The Literature Review section presents a review of the relevant literatures on mayoral control and issues of urban political representation. The Data and Analytic Framework section discusses the specific hypotheses to be tested, and the data and methodology utilized. The Results section presents the results of the analysis. The Discussion section synthesizes these findings and discusses their implications for the future of urban education policy under the Obama administration. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 19 notes.)