This paper clarifies core concepts in a Kentucky judge's decision that the State General Assembly has failed to provide an efficient system of common schools. Connecting "efficiency" of educational systems to "equality of educational opportunity," the paper argues that the realization of a constitutionally sound, efficient system of public elementary and secondary schools requires that policymakers extend their attention beyond changes in the school system. Kentucky policymakers should concern themselves with out-of-school social policies that will strengthen the socialization function of the family. And, even more importantly, they must focus on the need for fundamental social change. Such changes will require new, integrated relationships among businesses and industries, federal and state governments, and local communities. These relationships should aim at the development of a full-employment economy devoted to the production and availability of quality goods and services to meet basic human needs. (TES)