Local school boards are responsible for the two most important issues in most people's lives--their money and their children. Why do school boards fail to develop into high-performance teams? Why do they often work as micromanagers rather than as moral and cultural leaders of their communities? This book explores the current state of board governance, identifies challenges to school boards, and describes opportunities to overcome them. The book contains questions to ask when allocating and budgeting resources and when dealing with pressure groups. Most chapters conclude with a board self-evaluation questionnaire. Following the introduction, chapter 1 addresses the challenges to educational governance (personal, social, organizational, political). Chapter 2 explains the political context of school governance. Chapters 3 through 5 address personal and group-interaction challenges, and chapter 6 discusses strategies for developing and maintaining harmonious relationships. Chapters 7 through 9 discuss meeting management and such governance tools as policies, budgeting, and long-range planning. Chapter 10 describes sociopolitical issues that boards need to understand to act as advocates for educational reform. Suggestions for developing better boards are summarized in chapter 11. Six figures, an index, and a list of educational associations and publishers are included. (Contains 75 references). (LMI)