This paper describes and analyses some of the legal consequences of the schooling reforms of 1989 in New Zealand, which devolved the power to run schools to individual Boards of Trustees in each of the 2,600 schools in the country. The focus will be on three main kinds of legal action: between the state and schools (relating to interpretations of the legislation, resourcing and related issues), between the schools and parents/children attending (or not) a particular school, and finally one case between parents and the state, which encompassed a range of the problems raised by devolution. (Contains 7 notes.)