ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of recent literature on conceptions of educational equity and adequacy applied to state school fi nance policy in the United States. Equity conceptions deal primarily with variations or relative differences in educational resources, processes and outcomes across children, whereas adequacy conceptions attempt to address in more absolute terms, how much funding, how many resources or what quality of educational outcomes are suffi cient to meet state constitutional mandates. State constitutions address explicitly state legislatures’ responsibility toward public schooling. The fact that the U.S. Constitution does not do so, however, leads to signifi cant limitations for resolving inequities or inadequacies in public schooling nationwide. Equity and adequacy remain issues governed primarily by state courts and legislatures.
