Recent efforts to improve schools through community democratic school decision making and practices conflict with ideas of some of the founding fathers of the U.S. Constitution. There are several differences between the ideas of some contemporary democratic education reformers and those of Publius (the pen name of the authors of the Federalist Papers--Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay). The paper describes the reform structures, principles, and practices promoted by three democratic school leaders: Glickman, Levin, and Sizer. These educational leaders' ideas are then described within a framework of eight elements of democracy. Although present-day democratic- school reformers and the Constitutional advocates shared similar language, their words reflect substantially different meaning. Perspectives on the Constitution by Publius, representative of the liberal, democratic tradition identified in an earlier study, are presented and contrasted with elements of the community conception of democracy. Potential problems may arise if consumers of these educational reforms do not understand the conflict between the democratic-school reformers' ideas and those of the founding fathers and scholars of the Constitution. Publius's writings offer valuable lessons about the obstacles community democratic-school reformers face when attempting to implement their principles, processes, and governance mechanisms. (RJM)