But his critics -- and there are many -- say that instead of demonstrating leadership, he inflamed passions, generated distrust in the state capital and ultimately failed to gain the political reforms needed to carry out his agenda.
"While Giuliani was the mayor, things did not improve," said Carol Gresser, a former city education board president who was the swing vote between liberals and conservatives. "The system was denied the money it needed. I was on the board for eight years and it was constantly, 'Let's cut back on the school system.' "
She added: "He demonized the school system."
Giuliani's biggest goal, winning direct and absolute control of the school system, was rejected by the New York Legislature, which accepted the concept of mayoral control but was against handing it to Giuliani. That political failure was one important part of Giuliani's antagonistic relationship with school leaders.
Just six months after Giuliani's exit, state legislators voted to eliminate the New York City Board of Education. They gave Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg the direct control of the school system that Giuliani tried to get for eight years.
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Huge system
To be sure, New York City schools have been the bane of mayors since the 1960s. Other than some entire states, it is the largest nonfederal government entity in the nation, serving more than 1 million students and employing more than 100,000 educators and staff.
Because of its size, New York's system has some of the worst and some of the very best schools anywhere. But its low-end schools -- the ones with rats, high dropout rates and leaky roofs -- made New York a symbol of national education failure in the early 1990s, just as Giuliani was campaigning for mayor.
Giuliani, himself a product of Brooklyn Catholic schools, is blamed by some for helping fuel controversy over a diversity program known as the Children of the Rainbow curriculum.
The program preached racial and religious tolerance, but a piece of it also taught children younger than 10 about the existence of homosexuality, using the book "Heather Has Two Mommies." That was the part of the program that enraged parents -- many of them Giuliani supporters -- in heavily Catholic sections of Queens.
School Chancellor Joseph A. Fernandez, now retired in Florida, supported the curriculum, arguing that it taught teens abstinence while also showing "how to protect yourself if you were going to have sex." Parents also could choose to not have their children participate, he said.
