European cohesion policy makes its financing mechanisms, the Structural Funds (SF), contingent on ‘partnership principle’ that calls for the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in regional development. The ‘opening-up’ of policy-cycle to stakeholders operating outside public bureaucracies generates opportunities for influencing reform agendas by marginalized and politically excluded Roma populations especially in the area of education. However, the alleged open access to SF decision-making processes and escalation of political commitments to improve education opportunities for Roma population has not generated satisfactory outputs. This paper presents empirical findings collected in Spain and Slovakia, which demonstrate that existing patterns of privilege and the uneven distribution of resources are not altered by adherence to partnership principle. In some cases partnership opportunities are hijacked by already established social partners who maintain the conventional system of managing local affairs. This often results in utilization of SF for further segregation of Roma children in schools. The findings challenge the conventional wisdom of partnership literature that blames policy failure on inadequate mobilization capacity at the local level. It argues that effective management of SF is determined more by top-down empowerment strategies promoted by central governments than by bottom-up initiatives undertaken by local actors.