This series of articles discusses categorical grants, defined as financial assistance by a higher level of government to a lower level for educational services of a specific type or for a particular group of students. In the first article, criticism of such programs is discussed, as well as alternative approaches to better meet the goals of categorical programs. Another article investigates what categorical aid means to teacher unions, with the observation that although such programs create teacher jobs, they undermine seniority and tenure provisions because they cause the hiring of only specially qualified teachers. A third article asks if categorical grants benefit target groups or merely meet the needs of the professionals implementing them. In the fourth article, the author investigates the meaning of "adequate" funding for education and of equitable access to education. A final longer article reexamines the federal role in financing education, looking at its history, positive and negative aspects, and proposals for the future. The author discusses block grants as an alternative to categorical grants, acknowledging both their advantages in reducing costs and federal regulations and in decentralizing decision-making and their disadvantages in influencing districts to merely substitute them for local sources of school support while curtailing programs for the handicapped, the poor, and minorities. (Author/JM)