This article examines reasons why teachers who were identified by their school principal as leaders or having leadership potential, chose not to become school principals. While the literature reports a shortage of qualified applicants for school administrative positions, the deterrents that teacher leaders most often identify include testing/accountability pressures, job stress, amount of time required, and societal problems that make it difficult to focus on instruction. The key factors for teacher leaders choosing not to pursue a career in school administration are broadly categorized as stress and time demands. Superintendents identified the same factors, but scored the importance of each factor higher than the teachers. (Contains 1 table.)