Business partnership with public schools, while holding great promise for educational improvement, is hindered by legal questions about equity. Disagreement on how to apply this value to education has produced much litigation over school finance. Some allege that property tax financing violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; in classifying citizens by wealth, it discriminates against poor school districts. Similarly, corporate aid may unjustly favor some districts. In equal protection cases, courts have required that states' schemes for classifying citizens rationally follow legitimate legislative purposes. Some legal scholars believe courts have in many such rulings exceeded their authority. Activist courts, reasoning that the Constitution requires statewide spending equalization, may attack corporate aid to schools. Abstract concepts of equal rights, however, must be weighed against greater overall opportunities created by corporate aid. In recent cases, courts have disagreed whether property tax financing uses a discriminatory classification and whether education is subject to equal protection. Regardless of business involvement, however, schools will always rely mostly on public funding. Courts should therefore apply equal protection cautiously. Public-private partnerships, if created in a spirit of fairness, pose no substantial constitutional questions. A 64-item reference list is included. (MCG)