The challenge facing school finance is how to harness the school-finance system to the fundamental purpose of education: to improve learning for all students. The challenge is posed by political demands for better school performance and accountability, and by court rulings that tie school funding to standards of adequacy. This paper examines four new significant challenges, or changes, that will affect future finance scenarios. The first change is demographics. The number of school-aged children is expected to continue to increase. And as the student population grows, it is expected to become increasingly diverse, placing more pressure on education budgets. The second change is in labor. Schools must have personnel policies that will enable them to compete in the marketplace for skilled teachers. The third change is in technology. Funding will have to be available for technology in the classroom. The fourth change is in the move toward nontraditional education, notably charter schools, contracting, and vouchers. The growing number of educational providers and the increasing pressure for parent choice shifts the attention from how to fund districts to how to fund schools. While this paper offers no concrete solutions, it poses a number of questions for policymakers. (Contains 21 references.) (WFA)