In the last decade, a gradual negative perception of the compulsory Mexican education system started to emerge when internal and international evaluations of students' outcomes showed continuously low results that did not improve with immediate and mid-term remedial efforts. This added pressure by Mexican society to reform education, where limiting the influence of the teachers union was a central demand. This led to a presidential initiative in 2012 to reform education and the signing of the Pact for Mexico by almost every political party. One of the changes was in the appointment of school leaders. In 2015 a new process to appoint school leaders was implemented, replacing one had been in place for 43 years. Historically, they had developed an unofficial system where leadership positions in schools and wider educational system were given as prizes and incentives for those teachers and others loyal to and highly involved in the teachers union. This study used semi-structured interviews to explore the perceptions of school leaders appointed through the new system to see whether non-educational criteria and practices are still used to appoint school leaders. Participants reported positive initial expectations and issues with exams, with the application process, with transparency, and with appointments.