Education is a people-intensive proposition. By most estimates, 85% of school and district budgets are devoted to salaries and benefits, a figure that means that the manner in which leaders identify and develop their most important asset determines to a great degree the success of the enterprise. That figure also means that cutting school and district budgets significantly without reducing employees or their compensation is next to impossible. In the awkward argot of policy and research, what was once known as “human resource management” has become “strategic management of human capital.” That phrasing may sound a bit cumbersome, but it neatly captures the new thinking about the strategic role that managing educator talent plays in a district’s success. When school and district leaders understand the potential for such strategic management, human resources will no longer be relegated to a back-bench position. Manage “Human Capital” Strategically Managing people wisely should be at the core of all school or district improvement work. By Allan Odden 8 Kappan April 2011 kappanmagazine.org ALLAN ODDEN is a professor of educational leadership and policy analysis, director of strategic management of human capital, and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis. Thinkstock/iStockphoto