Unintended Winners of Wis. Aid Reforms Found

By Lonnie Harp

School-finance reforms passed last year by Wisconsin lawmakers in an effort to reduce the gap between wealthy and poor school districts could have the opposite effect.

Officials in the state capital have been scrambling to understand exactly what is happening after an analysis reported in newspapers across the state this month showed that well-to-do suburban districts would be the big winners under the new finance formula.

The analysis by The Associated Press also showed that districts in line to get the biggest increases when the formula takes effect in the 1996-97 school year were represented by the Republicans who pushed the...