In this article, I critique the foremost proponents of the adequacy and equity approaches to educational equality. I identify tensions within the adequacy approach related to positionality in education, fostering a democratic elite through higher education, and its defense of private schooling. In contrast, equity theorists are vulnerable to the leveling down critique and place too much emphasis on education as a private good. This article sketches out strategy for integrating these principles inspired by Rawls' lexically ordered two principles of justice. Concerns about the bases of equal status as citizens can ground an adequacy standard and prevent leveling down, while a "level playing field" conception for educational opportunities addresses positional competition and promotes the long-term stability of favorable background conditions. The privileging of the first principle of justice over the second also emphasizes education as a public good.