This publication presents comprehensive, comparative expenditure data by local school system for the whole United States for the 1969-70 year and compares four decades of progress in school finance. The analysis in the document permits a view of State and national progress toward reducing or eliminating financial inequality and of the magnitude of the equalization task. The report considers such questions as: How many additional dollars would be needed to support all children in a State or the nation at the expenditure level where a quarter, half, or three-quarters of the children of the nation are now supported? Has the task of raising low expenditure school districts to a standard such as the U.S. median expenditure level become easier or more difficult over the past 10, 20, 30, or 40 years? Do variations in expenditures relate to school system enrollment size? How do the States vary in financial ability or educational load? Numerous graphs and tables appear throughout the document. (Author/DN)