The 1971 Iowa School Foundation Plan for Financing Education was created to achieve goals of quality education, equity in financing education, efficiency, evaluation of local districts and the state system, and local flexibility. To analyze Iowa's success in meeting those goals, information gathered from 18 rural school districts and data from the State Department of Public Instruction was used. Student, teacher, and parent satisfaction was measured through questionnaires, with districts divided into those with less than 750 students, 1,000-1,999 students, and two countywide units. Quality was assessed by student retention, student participation, graduate productivity, citizen satisfaction, and parent willingness to finance schools; smaller districts led the field. In equity, Iowa is fourth in the nation in expenditure equity, and tax equity is progressing. Efficiency (what is received for dollars spent) proved greater in smaller districts (higher per pupil costs); they had better retention, daily attendance, school pride, and parental satisfaction. Evaluation and local flexibility have not been improved. Findings support decentralization of larger units rather than the proposed consolidation of smaller units, and suggest more political and educational attention and credit to Iowa's smaller rural districts for offering quality educational opportunities. (RS)