Since the 1980s many educational systems have undergone decentralisation. This trend has expanded the role of school principals and redesigned their relationship with teachers. To improve schools, educational reformists expect principals to empower teachers and increase their participation in school governance. Yet the implementation of such a policy is not evident. The present study had two aims: to examine whether, after engaging in decentralisation, educational leaders showed changes in their tendency to share governance with teachers; and to investigate the link between the changes in leaders' role and the tendency to empower teachers. These aims were tested with regard to Israeli school leaders. The periods under review were the early 1990s at the beginning of school decentralisation, and 2005-2006 when school decentralisation became more established and widespread. The major argument of this study was that decentralisation changes that occurred in the school leaders' role, particularly the expansion of their work demands, would affect their relations with teachers. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure and 5 notes.)