On a January night four years ago, Mayor Thomas Menino took to the stage of the Strand Theatre in Uphams Corner and pledged to revamp the school assignment process, citing the tens of millions of dollars the city was spending busing students across Boston.

“I will not allow us to pour dollar after dollar into gas tanks, when we could invest more of that money into our classrooms,” Menino said. “I know this is a very sensitive issue, but strong leadership is all about facing facts and providing a plan to push forward.”

That effort would later become the latest one to fall apart after public outcry. But an altered landscape politically and policy-wise – plenty of turnover within the City Council and an education reform bill that gave city officials greater controls over schools – could lead to a different outcome this time as school officials continue to grapple with nearly $80 million in transportation costs.

Since the last effort in 2008, Chuck Turner, who served as city councillor for District 7 and was among the small group on the City Council that often clashed with Menino, was convicted of bribery charges and booted off the 13-member body. City Councillors At-Large Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon gave up their seats to unsuccessfully run against Menino in 2009.

And in 2010, state lawmakers, chasing after federal funds, passed an education reform act that doubled the number of charter schools in low-performing school districts, and gave districts greater power in determining staffing and the length of the school day.

In 2011, officials from charter schools and Boston Public Schools signed a compact to ensure that the two sides would work more closely together.

But all that is unlikely to make an overhaul of the school assignment map an easy task. Some are already prepping for a battle, noting that a return to so-called neighborhood schools – ones that are within walking distance of students’ homes— could negatively affect students of color.

Many of the schools designated as underperforming schools, also known as “turnaround schools,” are in District 7.

“So if we just said kids in Roxbury and Dorchester can only go to school in Roxbury and Dorchester, their opportunities to go to a quality school wouldn’t be there,” said the district’s current city councillor, Tito Jackson.

The current system divides the city into three zones, though high schools are open to students city-wide.

State Rep. Carlos Henriquez said he is expecting a backlash to whatever plan will be released and he’s reserving his judgment while expressing some skepticism about whether it can get done this year.

“I don’t know if it’s feasible to do it in a year, but we’ll find out more as the plan unfolds,” he said.

Jackson said he is looking for an inclusive process. “Tossing out a plan may work for the public works department, that might work for the transportation department, but there is no more important singular issue than the youth in our city and the pipeline of talent for the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts,” Jackson said. “If we don’t get this right, then we not only destabilize these individual young people, we destabilize the future of Boston and the state of Massachusetts.”

Craig Galvin, a Dorchester parent who unsuccessfully ran for City Council last year, said parents are looking for progress. “I think progress is when you get parents, school administrators, students, and politicians on the same page,” he said. “And you get them in a room and you work out the issues. And I think people are tired of what’s been going on and they’re looking for change. People throughout the entire city of Boston are looking for change and they’re all looking for good schools for their children.”

Menino has pledged to put a task force together, and the administration has eyed having it assembled by February. The mayor, on the radio last week, said he wanted a diverse group on the task force, with residents who do have children in the school system and residents who don’t.

But he also indicated that public relations will play a big role in the pitch for changes.

“A couple of years ago we tried this, we didn’t make it. But then we didn’t have educational reform,” Menino told WBZ Radio’s Joe Mathieu. “Because of educational reform, we’ve been able to change many of our schools to be schools of choices that are here. You look at the Orchard Gardens School in Roxbury, you look at the Blackstone in the South End, you look at the Mason, you look at the Emerson, you look at many of these schools and they’ve changed because of the educational reform bill that we fought for. And the job we have in the schools today is to publicize the good schools.”

Menino added that he was unafraid of a “fight” over the changes. “I’ve had a lot of fights in my career,” he said. “But it’s worth the fight, it’s worth the energy. It’s just that we’ve got to educate the folks on what’s happening in the Boston Public Schools. We don’t do a good job of that, let me just tell you that. We don’t do a good job of explaining to the public…we’ve got to tell the story.”

Some were optimistic about the outcome. Newly-elected City Councillor Frank Baker, whose 5 year-old twins attend the Murphy School, said of Menino, “If anyone can truly get it done, his office can.” Baker added: “I think it’s getting a consensus from people and the assurance that none of these schools are going to be left behind.”

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, who represents a part of Dorchester and chairs the Senate side of the Legislature’s Education Committee, said the task force faces a “tall order” in changing the school assignment process.

“I’m all ears for what the task force might come up with,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge facing them but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to figure it out.”