This paper examines several types of school referenda with a view to examining how such referenda have served to limit or reinforce educational resource inequalities. Drawing on the results of previous studies and the author's research on California referenda, the paper seeks to provide answers to four crucial questions. First, to what extent are the outcomes of referenda decisions systematically influenced by local socioeconomic factors as well as the financial characteristics of a given election? Second, has the referendum process mitigated or enforced the inequality implied by wide educational resource variations? Third, what lessons can be learned from the existing body of knowledge on referenda that will aid in the development of an educational finance system consistent with the provision of equality in educational opportunity? Finally, what are the major limitations of previous educational referenda outcome studies and what are the gaps in our present knowledge of educational referenda outcomes? The author notes that the inherent inequality of a system in which local school expenditures are tightly influenced by local conditions has been reinforced by the referendum process. (Author/IRT)