In the 1980s, equity concerns will come into conflict with efficiency concerns in school financing. This paper attempts to trace the changing nature of these concerns during the 1970s and to suggest trends for education financing in the 1980s. The first section discusses equity issues related to state school finance reforms and suggests that reforms are both hard to evaluate and lacking in effectiveness. Included is a discussion of school finance litigation and its substantial evolution in the 1970s from a "student needs" standard to a "suspect classification" standard back to a "student needs" standard. Section two covers current and future federal interest in equity and efficiency of education financing. The last section examines the current manifestation of efficiency concerns--minimum competency tests and tax limitation efforts. It discusses the conflicts of these efficiency concerns with equity issues, public attitudes toward them, and implications for equity and efficiency trends in school finance for the 1980s. (Author/JM)