An increasing number of children who are both medically fragile and profoundly retarded are living to reach school age due to advanced medical technology. The provisions of Public Law 94-142 the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, bring these children within the domain of public education. A major question concerns what service delivery models should be used to meet the needs of the target population; the answer to this question requires a closer look at Public Law 94-142 itself, while the law does not speak directly to the population of concern; it does offer two important features: (1) it provides the obligatory force to program for all children regardless of severity; and (2) it sets in place a framework within which such programming may be developed. Summarily, it can be said that the public education system is the central agency for services to school aged children. It has a value-positive place in the social structure; it eliminates stigma; and it represents the legally-mandated least restrictive environment. Hence it may be reasonably considered as the basis of a service model for the children under study. Another advantage is that it means that a source of monies and a method of dissemination are already in place. In developing new guidelines for the particular children of concern, attention must be paid to provision of funds to meet the "related services" needs of this population. The spirit of commitment to the education of all children and to early intervention expressed by Public Law 94-142 and 99-457 must be matched by policy, or the educational agencies and the population of concern will be left in a position of vulnerability. Following the text a framework for proposed system changes is presented in the form of an Individual Education Plan. Contains 24 references. (KM)