For decades, some politicians and pundits have argued that "money does not make a difference" for school outcomes. While it is certainly possible to spend money poorly, this viewpoint is strongly contradicted by a large body of evidence from rigorous empirical research. A thorough review of research on the role of money in determining school quality leads to the following three conclusions: (1) on balance, in direct tests of the relationship between financial resources and student outcomes, money matters; (2) schooling resources that cost money are positively associated with student outcomes; and (3) sustained improvements to the level and distribution of funding across local public school districts lead to improvements in the level and distribution of student outcomes. While money alone is not the answer to all educational ills, more equitable and adequate allocation of financial inputs to schooling provides a necessary underlying condition for improving the equity and adequacy of outcomes. This document presents a brief explanation of the goal of school finance reforms, followed by summaries of the main bodies of evidence that illustrate how equitable and adequate school funding improves student outcomes. It closes with information about how certain kinds of specific investments can help to achieve these outcomes. [For "Revisiting the Age-Old Question: Does Money Matter in Education?," see ED528632. For "Does Money Matter in Education? Second Edition," see ED563793. For the policy brief to this report, see ED606471.]