Both the state and the federal governments have been interested in two categories of educational variation--with the type of education offered and with the type of learner to benefit from the education. State and federal interest in promoting equity and equal opportunity overlap with each other and with the interests of local schools and postsecondary institutions. The issue is to differentiate between the powers that need to be centralized and the powers that had best be left to local management. Both federal and state governments have tended to adopt legislation that is too restrictive and too demanding on the local units that are responsible for carrying out programs. Reversing the trend to centralization requires a massive effort both to improve the use of planning at all levels of government and to decentralize management. The key is an agreement at all levels that decentralization toward freedom of operation at the basic unit--the school, the college--is needed. And that in turn means a willingness to accept variation and to pay the price and accept the criticism that goes with such variation. (Author/IRT)