In four chapters this monograph examines how states and the nation have defined both an adequate education and the funding level required to provide it, and suggests an approach to the issues of educational adequacy and equity. Chapter 1 defines adequacy in terms of the provision of learning services sufficient to meet a goal and argues that the question of adequacy cannot be separated from the issue of equity. The second chapter reviews historical literature on U.S. public education to find how past policy makers and scholars have conceptualized educational adequacy and equity. In chapter 3 the authors analyze the changing role of the states in providing educational funding, the dollar amounts the states provide, various measures of educational resource inputs, and state funding of supplemental programs in special, bilingual, and compensatory education. Chapter 3 also presents brief case studies of approaches to adequacy taken in Georgia, South Carolina, Washington State, and Connecticut. The final chapter proposes a resource-cost-based approach to adequacy and equity issues. Called the "Resource Cost Model," the suggested framework is a computer simulation model for determining resources needed by districts and expenditures required of states to provide an adequate education (Author/RW)