This study of the fiscal, legal, and political dimensions of reform in American school finance responds to the challenge of San Antonio Independent School District vs. Rodriguez. The book focuses specifically on the State of Texas and the way in which injustices were analyzed for the landmark Rodriguez case. The book goes on to describe the role of the courts in bringing progressive change to educational finance laws and evaluates the degree to which legal tests effectively meet the problems besetting the support of public education. The components of equity that characterize what the author considers to be the best of the new reform laws are abstracted, and the political factors that constrain or encourage the passage of such legislation are discussed. This is followed by a review of some of the principal findings about the fiscal effects of federal aid to education and about the administrative practices that control the patterns of federal resource allocations within States. The book concludes with a series of recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of legal tests, State finance plans, and the federal role in American school finance. The complete opinions of Serrano vs. Priest, San Antonio vs. Rodriguez, and Robinson vs. Cahill appear in the appendixes. The appendixes also include statements from the New York Commission on Education, the President's Commission on School Finance, the Governor's Citizens' Committee on Education, and school finance reform legislation in Florida, Kansas, Utah, and Minnesota. An extensive bibliography is included. (Author/DN)