A study of policies governing state aid for education in four states over a 10-year period provided evidence that finance reform can lead to increased inequality in aid distribution. Two of the states studied, New Jersey and Maine, undertook major reform efforts in the 1970's, whereas the other two, New York and Rhode Island, did not. The study used two measures of the magnitude of aid--its proportional relation to all state expenditures and to personal income--and two measures of the distribution of aid--inequalities among districts in aid received either per pupil or without regard to pupil population. The study found that reform always led to higher levels of state school funding by every measure. No systematic relationships were found between magnitude and distribution. Nonreform states moved toward equal distribution during the decade, whereas reform states moved away. Change in nonreform states appears lasting and also more predictable than in reform states. It is suggested that legislators cycle between concern for constituency needs and interest in reform, creating a pattern of reform and reaction. Further research into finance policy during nonreform years is needed to understand this pattern fully. Footnotes are included. (PGD)