In the last decades, a number of states have passed legislation identifying the conditions under which state officials can and should intervene in the operation of school districts. This paper uses a grounded qualitative approach to develop a lexicon of concepts and a framework for comparing intervention laws across states. The paper analyzes the intervention laws and available regulations of 17 states. For each state, the paper identifies the areas of laws and regulations that are targeted for state oversight, the mechanisms that trigger intervention, the types of state intervention mandated, the responses required of districts, and the conditions specified for release from intervention. It also examines the various time frames required for certain actions and the degree of discretion allowed state officials. A comparative matrix summarizes how these features vary across states in three phases of the intervention process. The conclusion discusses three general types of state-district authority relations represented in the laws--authoritarian, collaborative, and democratic--and offers possible directions for further inquiry. Five tables are included. (Contains 13 references.) (LMI)