This article discusses inequalities in the distribution of educational resources, with emphasis placed on inequalities within school districts. In the first section, racially-based inequalities within school districts are traced from the post Civil War period to the 1960s. Examples of unequal expenditures for black students given in this section include disparities in the rural South and in Newark, Chicago, and the District of Columbia. The second section is a review of social science research investigating the degree to which educational resource allocations favor upper income children. Studies examining the unequal distribution of adequate school buildings, experienced and well paid staff, and local, State and Federal funds within districts and within individual schools are discussed. The third section traces the changing legal stance on equality of educational resource allocation. Included are discussions of the post Civil War period of mandated equality in some States, the rulings by courts at all levels approving intradistrict inequalities at the turn of the century, the Supreme Court's unrealistic assertion in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that inequalities in expenditures were not an issue because inequalities did not exist in the Brown States, and the Supreme Court's declaration of the need for the elimination of intradistrict educational inequalities linked to illegal segregation in the 1977, Milliken decision. A list of court cases cited in the article is appended. (BE)