On virtually every issue of personnel policy there are contracts that grant administrators managerial prerogatives they are commonly thought to lack. There are many school systems, for example, where transfers and layoffs are not determined by strict seniority. With only 40 districts in the sample, generalization is hazardous. It would appear that the simplest, least restrictive contracts are found in the more affluent small towns and the outer suburbs of Boston. In the larger urban districts and less affluent towns, contracts tend to be more restrictive.
Larger systems are more bureaucratic and rule-bound.
Differences that cannot be resolved informally end up on the bargaining table. Some towns that were former manufacturing centers have a history of troubled labor-management relations and a strong union tradition that may have influenced the teachers' contract. Devolution of more decision-making power to the school level would probably promote this transformation, but progress is slow. The second conclusion that emerges from this study concerns administrators. Contracts do constrain administrators.