In focusing on local school board response to citizen desires for change in public school operations and on significant issues changing education from the perspective of school boards, three principles must be kept in mind: (1) public schools are controlled by three arms of government at three levels; (2) the federal government has limited powers; and (3) federal trends (concerning the federal government) are not coincidental with national trends (existing independently of the federal government). Issues of federal and national scope include severe student population decline, fewer students but richer programs, and expansion of federal control. States have reacted by emphasizing their power at the expense of local boards of education who are bypassed at the local level in favor of citizen advisory committees. School board concerns involve a trend against big government spending, administrative unionism, curriculum reform, vocational career education programs, and their role as coordinators of community educational resources in a more comprehensive approach to education. Parent and citizen involvement necessary to help school boards deal with these problems raises other problems: advisory committees versus school boards as final authority, support of the expanding group of senior citizens, and the relationship among the superintendent and advisory committee and school board. (YLB)