School councils, a school-based decision making (SBDM) form of governance, are mandated for Kentucky public schools by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Commonly composed of the principal, three teachers, and two parents, the school council is designed to be a form of democratic or shared school governance. The missions of school councils are prescribed in KERA and include the areas of instruction, administration, and personnel. A random survey of 252 Kentucky rural schools was conducted to investigate what missions their school councils undertook, what benefits these schools had gained from SBDM, and what problems the councils were facing. From the 132 school councils that responded, it was found that approximately 20 percent of the school councils undertook all missions specified by the law, and the majority of councils undertook most missions. Some of the missions were undertaken by various district offices, principals, or school committees. The schools had benefited from their councils making concrete policies, promoting communication, addressing student needs, identifying priority problems, reviewing curriculum, selecting personnel, and using resources efficiently. Main problems included lack of staff and parental involvement, poor understanding of legal requirements, weakness in coordinating committees, short-term vision, time constraints, unequal membership status, lack of focus on instruction-related matters, lack of efficiency, functioning as a rubber stamp, little contribution from parent members, and lots of politics on councils. Contains 22 references and the survey questionnaire. (Author/TD)