The increasingly politicized environment of schools should be examined in the context of the board of education's legal powers and the politics of education. Historically, the superintendent of schools has dominated policy making, though school boards' influence has been noted in areas such as finance and physical facilities, and in smaller communities. This study examined the perceptions of school board members and superintendents as to their own and each other's influence in eight areas of policy. A questionnaire was administered to 62 New Jersey school districts, and 31 elected school boards were matched with 31 appointed school boards in two size categories of assessed valuation per pupil and three enrollment sizes. Five null hypotheses were tested through analysis of variance to determine whether there are significant differences in (1) the perceptions of superintendents in districts with elected and appointed schools boards as to who decided policy, (2) the perceptions of board members in districts with elected and appointed school boards, (3) the perceptions of superintendents and board members in districts with elected school boards, (4) the perceptions of superintendents and board members in districts with appointed school boards, and (5) the interaction of five categories of mean scores in the eight policy areas. Disparities between superintendents' and board members' perceptions suggest that superintendents should reevaluate their relationship to politics. A bibliography is included. (MCG)