A consortium was organized in 1977 to assist 16 school districts, covering 5,100 square miles and including 19,000 students in a largely rural part of Oregon, to comply with Public Law 94-142 which requires provision for appropriate public education for the estimated 12% of the school population who are handicapped. Problems making it difficult for small districts to provide services were typical of other rural areas and included: (1) large areas comprising small districts; (2) undeveloped special education services; (3) unserved and unidentified handicapped children; (4) lack of qualified staff; and (5) uneven distribution of federal funds. Out of this dilemma evolved support for pooling federal funds under an Education Service District plan. In order to provide special education and related services, 10 steps which a local district must follow to comply with federal and state regulations were identified (screening; referral, prior notice, and parental consent for evaluation; evaluation; multidisciplinary staffing; noneligibility reporting; parent notification of Inservice Education Program (IEP) meeting; IEP meeting; parent notification of IEP review meeting; reevaluation; and prior notice for change in special education placement), and persons responsible for each step were delineated. Background information on development of the model and the consortium program are included. (AW)