Since the early 1980s, the New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department have advanced a complex reform agenda centered around the development of curriculum and related standards. These reforms have considerable implications for the allocation and use of human resources within schooling systems. This paper reports on a series of case studies aimed at understanding three things: (1) what policy changes regarding allocation of human resources have occurred at the local level in response to state-initiated programs; (2) what impact have these policies and other reform strategies had on managerial and classroom practices; and (3) what are the implications of these findings for future policymaking and research. Data were obtained from a diverse sample of 10 schools in 4 public school districts in New York State. Methods included document review and interviews conducted with a total of 30 district and building-level administrators and teachers. The paper identifies six factors that affected the human-resource-allocation process at the local level: state guidelines; enrollment projections and student needs and wants; collective bargaining agreements; program initiatives and student performance; staff expectations; and facilities and scheduling constraints. School districts also varied in their capacity to respond to state-initiated reforms such as "The Board of Regents Action Plan" and the "New Compact for Learning." The interview data describe how four broad areas of reform affected the resource-allocation process: content emphases, standards and expectations for students, standards and expectations for teachers, and instructional time. Two tables are included; the appendix contains the interview instruments. (Contains 21 references). (LMI)