This article discusses the general developments and challenges of Latin American public education systems from the 1970s to the late 1990s. A framework using five stages of equal educational opportunity is used to organize the findings: (1) Enrollment--Involves the mechanisms needed to enroll children in school; (2) Quality--Great disparities in educational opportunity in Latin America begin to emerge; (3) Staying in school--Concerns the ability to complete grade cycles; (4) Benefits of being schooled--Families and broader society evaluate whether the investment in formal schooling has added value to student human capital; and (5) Expansion of future life opportunities--Evaluates whether or not the student will receive an equal share of societal benefits upon graduation. Connections are made between the student population's levels of access to quality with their future earning potential. Equitable and compensatory programs need to be expanded to reach the most disenfranchised sectors of Latin American communities not only to promote quality of life, but in order to raise the level of economic prosperity for entire communities.