Despite pessimism concerning school funding prospects and the deep recession of the early 1980s, this article shows that real school revenues during 1980-1988 continued to increase at substantial rates. The first section discusses school revenues in the context of the country's gross national product and personal income from 1960 to 1980. While fiscal support for schools was strong during this period, teachers' real salaries declined by 19 percent between 1970-1980. The second section briefly describes the funding increases needed to finance the education reforms proposed during the 1980s--both the high standards, expectations, and requirements recommended in "A Nation at Risk" and programs to upgrade the teaching profession proposed in "A Nation Prepared." The final section provides national, regional, and state detail on educational finance changes in relation to funds needed for reforms. This section also discusses changes in total education revenues from all sources and on a per pupil basis, focusing on the 1980, 1983, and 1988 periods and comparing changes in the 1980s to those in the 1970s. During the 1980s, education funding moved upward, but consumed a smaller percentage of gross national product and personal income. The 1988 figure (3.57 percent) is higher than the 1983 figure (3.54 percent), but less than the 1980 figure (3.61 percent). However, funding per pupil rose 33 percent in an era of continued tax and expenditure limitation. This effect is partly due to small enrollment increases between 1980 and 1988. Average teacher salaries are also rising in real terms (22 percent), though lagging behind total real funding growth (26 percent) and per pupil growth (31 percent). Most significantly, fiscal increases during the 1980s have exceeded those of the 1970s. States are now the lead fiscal agents for school funding. Included are nine tables. (MLH)