BUFFALO, N.Y. – New York’s second-largest school district, Buffalo Public Schools, has been in the national spotlight before, but mostly for embarrassing reasons – such as its dismal graduation rate (56 percent in 2013) and its lavish spending on cosmetic surgery for employees ($2.9 million in 2013).

But with a reform-minded school board finally in place, the Buffalo school district is poised to make news for its bold and aggressive approach to turning around its roster of failing schools.

When the new board majority officially takes the reins on Wednesday, it’s expected they will pursue a series of initiatives to increase the number of charter schools in the district, to offer opportunity scholarships (vouchers) so students can attend a quality private school, and to petition the state to take control of Buffalo’s most dysfunctional public schools.

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District leaders are also expected to ask suburban school leaders to allow BPS students into their districts.

Overall, the board’s goal is to create “4,300 spots in high-performing schools by the start of the 2015-16 school year,” the Buffalo News reports.

Implementing these reforms is where it’ll get tricky for the new board. Reform advocates have a slim 5-4 majority, which means a sizeable part of the board will oppose the policies at every turn.

There’s also the matter of the Buffalo Federation of Teachers (BFT) – the local teachers union. BFT leaders understand that if the board succeeds in closing failing schools or transferring control of them to a charter operator (or potentially the state of New York), it will mean the loss of many unionized teaching jobs and, by extension, a weakening of their union.

Some observers are speculating that the threat of eliminating unionized teaching jobs is the board’s backdoor strategy for trying to extract contract concessions from the powerful BFT.

Board members deny that’s their intention.

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Regardless, it’s clear the teachers union is going to do everything in its power to thwart the board’s plans. And when the next round of school board elections come around in 2016, Buffalo residents can bet the farm BFT leaders are going to do whatever it takes to re-seize control of the board.

That means the reform-minded board members need to quickly implement their vision so voters can begin enjoying the results before they head to the polls in two years.

Without community buy-in to the overall vision, the board’s efforts will fail, notes one observer.

Board members will also have to convince potential charter school operators “that they can create a system that can sustain itself – even when they leave office,” the Buffalo News reports.

In other words, charter operators need assurances they won’t be fed to the union wolves when the reformers move on from the board.

Board President James Sampson understands the small window of opportunity and has pledged to move “pretty aggressively.” Sampson understands the stakes – and that both sides of the education reform debate will be watching each move very closely.

Is Buffalo Public Schools finally ready for its close-up?

Wait and see.