The New York State hearings (held on May 10-11, 1984, in New York City) reported on in this document focused on three areas of public education considered key to inequity: the denial of equal access to school resources, the denial of equal quality in the learning process, and the denial of open futures in the link between school and work. The testimony offered at the hearings by student and parent advocates, community and civic activists, and teachers and administrators (who are listed in a separate section) is organized into five sections: (1) the economic and social conditions of the school crisis; (2) the underfunding of school services; (3) the problems and dilemmas of an unequal system; (4) new approaches to and recommendations for school improvement; and (5) conclusions for the advocacy movement. The general conclusions are fivefold: (1) school failure is not inevitable; (2) school failure is an issue of public choices and commitments, not of rejected opportunities; (3) the results of resource denial and inequity are manifest everyday in the classroom; (4) the ingredients of school improvement and effectiveness are known; and (5) raising standards and requirements for student performance without raising the level of fiscal, administrative, and instructional support for school improvement will exacerbate school failure. It is concluded that equity remains the central issue in the pursuit of excellence in public education. (RDN)