The author provides an overview and conceptualization of the total educational and educational facility planning process. The presentation attempts to provide a simple practical outline for local planners, so they may actively engage in relevant educational facility planning, and a common conceptual base, so the various components of Project Simu-School may design research and development projects that will enhance the planning process. The author considers four alternative levels of educational planning: the educational facility plan (the most commonly utilized process for determining school building needs); the educational improvements needed for the system as a whole and translated into educational facility needs; the development of a comprehensive-coordinated land use plan of which the educational plan is a part; and the development of recommended plans for improving the quality of life and living for all residents--to increase lay citizen participation, understanding, control, and support of education; and diffuse and share planning and decisionmaking. (Author/DN)