A school board faces a choice: hire another educational assistant or purchase updated science equipment? A provincial cabinet must allocate education dollars between early childhood programs and high school completion supports. A ministry official determines the weighting factors in funding formulas that will shape resource flows for years. At every level of the education system, people make decisions about what gets funded and what doesn't—but who these decision-makers are, how they're chosen, and what influences their choices varies enormously and often invisibly.