Reviews the first two years of implementation of Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act in Washington state, examining political and economic background factors, state responses to block grant authority, and local implementation. Concludes that the state adapted well and quickly to the shift in federal policy. (PGD)

An exemplary $20,000 study, funded by the Washington state legislature in 1985, permitted nine small rural farm-oriented school districts in Whitman County to determine the need for and possible options of collaboration and cooperation. The study embodied major components that could serve as a model for similar planning efforts. The study was…