The Conservative Government's education reforms of the past 6 years in England and Wales, beginning with the Education Reform Act of 1988, embody a strategy designed to pursue the following 5 themes: quality, diversity, increased parental choice, and greater school autonomy and accountability. The government's rationale for reform makes no explicit reference to equity; rather, the issues of quality and choice are cited as the forces for change. The reforms have introduced approaches to school-based management within a tightly regulated framework. This paper examines three dimensions of the reforms that impinge on equity conceived in terms of resource allocation: formula funding, increased marketization of the schools sector, and school-based budgeting. A conclusion is that each of these reforms poses considerable consequences for equity. It seems plausible to suggest that a major question for the future will be how schools in different circumstances achieve a balance between concerns for efficiency in terms of aggregate educational achievement and concerns for equity embodied in a more "leveling" approach to resource allocation. The equity consequences of the reforms depend on the interactions of parents, students, school managers, and teachers in a wide variety of situations across the country. Contains 41 references. (LMI)