Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume summarizes principal findings of the studies presented in the other volumes. The report summarizes school finance reforms enacted between 1972 and 1974 in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It recounts what happened to school taxing and spending in each state's districts; describes what happened to districts' spending opportunities; estimates how reforms and other factors affected the budgetary behavior of Michigan school districts; and speculates on why reforms in the five states had unexpected outcomes in the light of equalization aims. Overall, results of the studies indicate that although reform had brought some advances, especially in the area of more equal distribution of tax rates, success in equalizing spending outcomes and opportunities has been extremely modest. This outcome may be because reformers tried to pursue diverse and conflicting objectives and because add-ons and adjustments to basic state school finance plans often had disequalizing effects. (Author/JM)