diff --git a/render-ws-java-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/embackground/BackgroundModel.java b/render-ws-java-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/embackground/BackgroundModel.java
index 4add63c4c..fbc41b47f 100644
--- a/render-ws-java-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/embackground/BackgroundModel.java
+++ b/render-ws-java-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/embackground/BackgroundModel.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import org.ejml.dense.row.factory.LinearSolverFactory_DDRM;
 import org.ejml.interfaces.linsol.LinearSolverDense;
 
+import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@
 /**
  * An abstract base model for background correction in 2D slices of EM data.
  */
-public abstract class BackgroundModel<T extends BackgroundModel<T>> extends AbstractModel<T> {
+public abstract class BackgroundModel<T extends BackgroundModel<T>> extends AbstractModel<T> implements Serializable {
 
 	private final double[] coefficients;
 
diff --git a/render-ws-spark-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/spark/intensityadjust/BackgroundCorrectionClient.java b/render-ws-spark-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/spark/intensityadjust/BackgroundCorrectionClient.java
index 12a693c36..3bf575eb3 100644
--- a/render-ws-spark-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/spark/intensityadjust/BackgroundCorrectionClient.java
+++ b/render-ws-spark-client/src/main/java/org/janelia/render/client/spark/intensityadjust/BackgroundCorrectionClient.java
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 package org.janelia.render.client.spark.intensityadjust;
 
 import com.beust.jcommander.Parameter;
+import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
+import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
 import org.apache.spark.SparkConf;
 import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD;
 import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaSparkContext;
 import org.janelia.alignment.util.Grid;
 import org.janelia.render.client.ClientRunner;
 import org.janelia.render.client.embackground.BackgroundModel;
+import org.janelia.render.client.embackground.FourthOrderBackground;
+import org.janelia.render.client.embackground.QuadraticBackground;
 import org.janelia.render.client.parameter.CommandLineParameters;
 import org.janelia.saalfeldlab.n5.DatasetAttributes;
 import org.janelia.saalfeldlab.n5.N5FSReader;
@@ -16,8 +22,10 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -30,6 +38,23 @@
  * is valid for all z layers starting at the given z value until the next z value in the list.
  * Models are specified by an identifier ("quadratic" or "fourthOrder") and a list of coefficients (6 or 9,
  * respectively). Coefficients can be found interactively using {@link org.janelia.render.client.embackground.BG_Plugin}.
+ * </p>
+ * In particular, the parameter file should have the following format. There is one root object with a single key
+ * "models". The value of this key is an array of objects, each with three keys: "z", "model", and "coefficients"s, e.g.:
+ * <pre>
+ * {
+ *    "models": [ {
+ *          "z": 0,
+ *          "model": "quadratic",
+ *          "coefficients": [1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
+ *       }, {
+ *          "z": 10,
+ *          "model": "fourthOrder",
+ *          "coefficients": [1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0]
+ *       }
+ *    ]
+ * }
+ * </pre>
  */
 public class BackgroundCorrectionClient implements Serializable {
 
@@ -89,12 +114,13 @@ public void run() throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
-    public void runWithContext(final JavaSparkContext sparkContext) {
+    public void runWithContext(final JavaSparkContext sparkContext) throws IOException {
 
         LOG.info("runWithContext: entry");
 
         // read parameters
-        final Map<Integer, BackgroundModel<?>> models = null;
+        final BackgroundModelProvider modelProvider = BackgroundModelProvider.fromFile(parameters.parameterFile);
+        System.exit(0);
 
         // set up input and output N5 datasets
         final DatasetAttributes inputAttributes;
@@ -119,7 +145,7 @@ public void runWithContext(final JavaSparkContext sparkContext) {
         // parallelize computation over blocks of the input/output dataset
         final List<Grid.Block> blocks = Grid.create(inputAttributes.getDimensions(), inputAttributes.getBlockSize());
         final JavaRDD<Grid.Block> blockRDD = sparkContext.parallelize(blocks, blocks.size());
-        blockRDD.foreach(block -> processSingleBlock(parameters, models));
+//        blockRDD.foreach(block -> processSingleBlock(parameters, models));
 
         LOG.info("runWithContext: exit");
     }
@@ -128,5 +154,59 @@ private static void processSingleBlock(final Parameters parameters, final Map<In
 
     }
 
+
+    private static class BackgroundModelProvider implements Serializable {
+        private final List<Integer> zValues;
+        private final List<BackgroundModel<?>> models;
+
+        private BackgroundModelProvider(final List<Integer> zValues, final List<BackgroundModel<?>> models) {
+            this.zValues = zValues;
+            this.models = models;
+        }
+
+        public BackgroundModel<?> getModel(final int z) {
+            for (int i = 0; i < zValues.size() - 1; i++) {
+                if (z >= zValues.get(i) && z < zValues.get(i + 1)) {
+                    return models.get(i);
+                }
+            }
+            return null;
+        }
+
+
+        public static BackgroundModelProvider fromFile(final String fileName) throws IOException {
+
+            final List<Integer> zValues = new ArrayList<>();
+            final List<BackgroundModel<?>> models = new ArrayList<>();
+
+            final JsonArray root;
+            try (final FileReader reader = new FileReader(fileName)) {
+                root = JsonParser.parseReader(reader).getAsJsonObject().getAsJsonArray("models");
+            }
+
+            for (final JsonElement jsonElement : root) {
+                final JsonObject parameterSet = jsonElement.getAsJsonObject();
+                final int z = parameterSet.get("fromZ").getAsInt();
+                final String modelType = parameterSet.get("model").getAsString();
+                final double[] coefficients = parameterSet.getAsJsonArray("coefficients").asList().stream()
+                        .map(JsonElement::getAsDouble)
+                        .mapToDouble(Double::doubleValue).toArray();
+
+                LOG.info("Extract model from parameters file: fromZ={}, modelType={}, coefficients={}", z, modelType, coefficients);
+
+                zValues.add(z);
+                if (modelType.equals("quadratic")) {
+                    models.add(new QuadraticBackground(coefficients));
+                } else if (modelType.equals("fourthOrder")) {
+                    models.add(new FourthOrderBackground(coefficients));
+                } else {
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown model type: " + modelType);
+                }
+            }
+
+            return new BackgroundModelProvider(zValues, models);
+        }
+    }
+
     private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BackgroundCorrectionClient.class);
 }