For local school districts to provide equal educational opportunities throughout a metropolitan area, a school organization plan should distribute populations among districts in such a manner as to maximize the aggregate expressed demand for educational services and to provide relatively equal financial support. Consolidation of contiguous districts and unified county-wide or multicounty government plans are inadequate. A better solution to the financial needs of metropolitan areas lies in the creation of school districts that are relatively comparable in financial resources and educational needs, internally heterogeneous, competitive with nonschool and other school governments, and large or small enough in size to be free from the constraints of economies and diseconomies of scale. For State aid to be effective in equalizing educational opportunities among districts within its boundaries, a satisfactory index of educational need must be developed and applied. For Federal aid to be effective, block grants give promise of filling the need for the distribution of Federal funds on an equitable and acceptable basis. (JK)