Many educators advocate school-based management, a method of decentralization wherein the school, instead of the district office, becomes the primary unit of educational decision-making. This shift is part of American education's long-term oscillation between administrative centralization and decentralization. Centralization, say its critics, has led to rigid, hierarchical structures and a lack of creativity, while decentralization offers greater diversity and flexibility in meeting student needs and gives parents and the community more say in their schools. Examples of school-based management are described in Florida and California and in the school districts of Lansing (Michigan), Edmonton (Alberta), Cherry Creek (Colorado), Louisville (Kentucky), Eugene (Oregon), Salt Lake City (Utah), and New York City. Under school-based management, school boards still set goals and policies and make final decisions, but central offices become facilitators, supporting and evaluating the schools, while principals gain greater authority and assume actual school leadership. Under school-based management the decisions schools control include curriculum matters, personnel selection, and budgeting (within a lump-sum allocation from the district office). School-based management also entails increased staffing and community involvement in decision-making through faculty committees and school advisory councils. (RW)