Extra Aid to Poor Ala. Districts Rankles Wealthier Ones

A new school-finance plan has left Alabamas best-funded school districts struggling to make ends meet and financially strapped districts hoping the change is just the tip of the iceberg.

This fall, for the first time, nearly all of Alabama's $2 billion in school funding is being distributed through a formula that gives poor districts extra aid and wealthier districts less than they usually get.

The change is intended as a step toward remedying longstanding school inequities in the state. Alabama is under a 1993 circuit court order to make school...