New York State Board of Regents. New York City School Chancellor (2000–2002) Levy became New York City School Chancellor in 2000, managing a $13 billion budget. He served for nearly three years, including during 9/11. The system is the nation's largest, at the time serving 1.1 million students. It currently has more than 1,800 schools. Levy's tenure as chancellor was marked by significant reform and a number of positive results. The first non-educator to serve in the office, he imposed management accountability metrics; overhauled teacher recruitment; in collaboration with the UFT, the teacher's union, he ended the practice of hiring teachers on "emergency credentials"; and he started the much-emulated Teaching Fellows program. Although he is well known for being plain-spoken and blunt, he largely tried to avoid politics and controversial issues when possible in favor of his practical, data-driven reforms. The New York City Board of Education voted 4 to 3 to make Levy interim chancellor, a move opposed by then-mayor Rudy Giuliani. However, Levy's business-like approach eventually engendered a mutual respect with Giuliani and other skeptics, and he was unanimously voted permanent chancellor after five months on the job. The subsequent programs he implemented were characteristically student-centered. He instituted the first K-12 student information reporting system, established the first new selective public high schools in over 60 years, and created programs offering students college-level instruction. He also ran what remains the country's largest summer school with over 300,000 students, which was subsequently recognized to have been among the most cost-effective interventions for low performing students. Reading and math scores rose considerably during his time in office, including the largest-ever one-year gain in math scores. Levy left the office of chancellor in August 2002 after overseeing a friendly transition to his successor, Joel Klein. Later career (2002–2014) Following his departure from the chancellor's office, Levy continued to promote innovation in education. He became a member of the senior management team of Kaplan, Inc., at a time that it was owned by The Washington Post, and subsequently joined its Higher Education Division, which included over 70 for-profit campuses and an online university with over 60,000 students. He founded Kaplan University's online School of Education, which focused on training special education and math teachers. Levy was a member of the board of Hesser College and Kaplan University. He was also a trustee of Pace University. In 2010, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan