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This article examines two questions: (a) How does resource allocation change in school districts experiencing sustained charter school competition? (b) Among districts exposed to charter competition, are there differences in the resource allocation adjustments between those that do and do not succeed in stemming further enrollment loss to charters? Research Design: The authors utilize fixed effect models to analyze a statewide panel data set of Michigan school districts from 1994 to 2006. The authors consider several dimensions of resource allocation-for example, average class size, teacher salaries, and spending shares devoted to a variety of disaggregated instructional and noninstructional functions, including administration. Findings: Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that competition from charter schools spurs regular public schools to shift resources to achievement-oriented activities. Charter competition has had remarkably little impact on standard measures of district resource use in Michigan schools. On the other hand, higher levels of charter competition clearly generate fiscal stress in districts. Moreover, changes in resource allocation cannot explain the differing trajectories of districts that do and do Article 4 Educational Administration Quarterly 48(1) not turn back the competitive challenge. There are no significant differences in the resource allocation changes made by districts that stabilize enrollment loss to charters and those that continue to spiral down. Conclusions: The authors find no support for the hopeful prediction that competition from charter schools will compel school district leaders to shift resources to achievement-oriented activities.

Using the collective leadership framework, this study examines (a) how principals perceive their own influence and that of other key stakeholders in various school decisions and (b) how principals' perceived influences of other stakeholders are associated with their own influence. Research Method/Approach: This study uses the nationally representative database of public school principals from the 2007 to 2008 School and Staffing Survey. A series of ordinary least squares regression models were estimated to examine how principals' perceptions of decision influence were associated with principal characteristics, school contextual factors, and influences of other stakeholders. Findings: Among all the stakeholders, principals perceived themselves to have the greatest influence in school decisions in almost all key decision areas, while other stakeholders also exerted significant influences to different extents. Depending on the decision area, principals viewed other stakeholders' influence as either supporting or inhibiting their own influence. For example, principals perceived influences from teachers and school districts as high and supportive. On the other

This article investigates how Michigan's charter school policy influences the composition of students by race and socioeconomic status in urban traditional public schools. Using 2 years of student-level data in Michigan's urban elementary and middle schools, the dynamic student transfers between charter schools and TPSs are analyzed through a series of hierarchical generalized linear models. The two-way transfer analysis shows that the student sorting under the charter school program tends to intensify the isolation of disadvantaged students in less effective urban schools serving a high concentration of similarly disadvantaged students. The findings imply that a challenge for the state policy makers is to help disadvantaged students who are left behind in the most disadvantaged schools, without significantly reducing the benefits to students who take advantage of school choice.

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