To provide a comparative perspective on the legalization of education, the author analyzes the role of the West German Federal Constitutional Court in shaping educational policy. He identifies two constitutional norms the court uses to interpret the relationship between education and the state: equal protection and the legitimacy of educational decision-making and policy formation. Efforts to make current practices in German education comply with these norms have led the court to develop its own notion of legalization in the twin principles of "statutorization" and "parliamentarization." The author argues that while the court succeeds in satisfying the equal protection norm, it may have underestimated the seriousness of the legitimacy issue. The paper concludes with preliminary notes comparing this analysis with parallel considerations in the legalization of American education. (Author/JEH)