FACTORS OF THE COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURE WHICH AFFECTED DECISION-MAKING ON EDUCATIONAL POLICIES IN TWO LOCAL DISTRICTS OF FLORIDA, BEACH COUNTY AND RIVER COUNTY, ARE PRESENTED. THE COUNTIES WERE MATCHED ON CERTAIN FACTORS OF SOCIAL CLIMATE, BUT DIFFERED WIDELY IN LOCAL FINANCIAL EFFORT. IT WAS FOUND THAT NO GROUP MADE ALL THE DECISIONS IN RIVER COUNTY, WHILE THE RULING ECONOMIC DOMINANTS USUALLY MADE THE DECISIONS IN BEACH COUNTY. IN BEACH COUNTY, BUSINESSMEN DOMINATED THE POWER STRUCTURE, WHILE IN RIVER COUNTY PROFESSIONALS HELD THE MOST POWER. ELECTED OFFICIALS HAD HIGHER STATUS IN THE POWER STRUCTURE IN RIVER COUNTY THAN IN BEACH COUNTY, AND THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS IN RIVER COUNTY WAS VASTLY MORE POWERFUL THAN HIS COUNTERPART IN BEACH COUNTY. INTERVIEWS AND THE FLORIDA SCALE OF CIVIC BELIEFS WERE THE PRIMARY DATA-GATHERING TECHNIQUES USED.