On May 18, 1983 a conference was held at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to discuss the status of work on cost analysis studies in education at the state and local level. NWREL, local and state education agencies in Oregon and Washington, and two Portland area universities were represented at the conference. Jana Kay Smith presented a report which reviewed cost studies conducted at NWREL from 1978 to 1982. The report assessed the current practice of cost analysis in education and proposed a system to help determine the cost needs of a client requesting a cost study. Larry Picus had conducted the majority of cost studies reviewed in Smith's report and shared his experiences with applications of cost analysis methods in educational settings. Members of a panel which consisted of local and state education agency and NWREL staff discussed prospects for cost analysis methods in their agencies. All panel members (Don Egge, Walt Hathaway, Zeno Katterle, and Robert Rath) were known for their interest in the area of cost analysis and for their experience in the conduct of such studies. A transcript of the conference proceedings (major presentations and audience discussion) is included. (PN)