This study examines Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) program operations related to school desegregation in New York and New Jersey. Included are brief discussions of application submission, grant competition, and project monitoring and technical assistance. Information presented is based on Federal and State data, program records, interviews, and case studies of eight Basic and Pilot projects in seven districts for 1976-77. The study found that despite successful efforts by the Office of Education to direct the larger ESAA awards to school districts with greater desegregation needs, this region as a whole had a low need for desegregation aid, since little recent desegregation had taken place. In terms of grant size, Region II was found to be receiving large sums of money, despite the modest nature and extent of desegregation plans and the predominance of compensatory education activities not closely related to school desegregation needs. Further, review panels rated magnet school projects very highly, although the applicability of and local support for such projects was questionable. Regarding funding, delays by the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Education were discovered to have caused numerous implementation delays in Region II projects. Little reliable information was found regarding technical assistance and monitoring. (Author/GC)