This document presents an overview of the basis for the program requirements applicable to local school districts applying for grants under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The study's basic research objective is to determine what additions, deletions, or clarifications are needed within the Title I legal framework to improve program administration. The purpose of this introductory overview is to summarize the project's major findings, conclusions and recommendations concerning: (a) the basis for the requirements with which Local Educational Agencies(LEAs) must comply in order to receive benefits under Title I, (b) whether the language of the federal legal framework in effect during the interviews setting forth the basic LEA program requirements is sufficiently clear, (c) whether those basic LEA program requirements restrict LEAs in the design of innovative programs for, and the delivery of services to, educationally deprived children residing in low-income areas, (d) whether the legal frameworks developed by the states are sufficiently clear and whether they restrict the design of innovative programs, and (e) whether the revised Title I regulations published in the Federal Register subsequent to the date of the interviews address the problems identified by the project concerning the clarity and restrictiveness of the earlier Title I legal frameworks. This paper includes an introduction and the project's findings, conclusions, and recommendations concerning the basis for, clarity, and restrictiveness of the program requirements applicable to local school districts applying for grants under Title I. (Author/AM)