Since employee salaries and fringe benefits make up the major part of school budgets, any reduction in budgets must be accomplished by reducing personnel. Concentrating on Oklahoma, but citing legal decisions in other states as well, a legal summary is presented for reduction in force when funds are unavailable to complete a school budget. As in most situations, good faith is the key looked at by the courts. School boards must have a reasonable plan or policy to accomplish reduction in force. The grounds to attack a reduction in force layoff are (1) that the decision to terminate was arbitrary or (2) that the reason for termination was constitutionally impermissible (termination because of the teacher's free speech, religion, race, or association). Tenured teachers have a right to keep their positions over other nontenured teachers hired to fill the same position. However, a tenured teacher can be released when the position is being eliminated as part of a change in the academic program. The 14th Amendment did not give individual teachers the right to persuade the board that areas of instruction other than their own should be discontinued. Such determinations are managerial decisions. (MLF)