Metropolitanism is a phenomenon of development in our society which has completely circumvented the basic institutions upon which we have relied, making the management of all public services more complex. The major problems of metropolitanism as it affects public education are those associated with the ability of society to utilize not only its economic resources but also its social and cultural resources, which are even more significant in the education of children. Three areas of concern are the proper relations between educational government and other governmental units, the internal sharing of decision making, and the process of educational management. Exclusive exercise of local action with only local resources cannot deal successfully with the emerging problems which are not local in nature. Potential solutions to the problems require that school districts cooperate and coordinate activities. An example of what has been done in this respect is an educational research and development council, a private nonprofit corporation consisting of 22 school systems established in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, Minnesota. (HW)