The focus of this presentation is on instances wherein parents have asserted legal rights independently of their minor children. Such rights are primarily a function of legislative and administrative prescriptions and constitutional construction and balancing. The parameters of a state's control of public education have been partially defined by both state and federal courts. The criteria that enables parents to permeate the parameters of state control include school practices that conflict with moral, philosophical, or religious beliefs of parents; present a real and direct threat to the health, safety, or welfare of students; introduce an unwarranted and arbitrary denial of a student's opportunity to acquire useful knowledge; impinge on the intimacies of familial privacy, including lifestyle; result in parents and child suffering irreparable harm; result in a blatant offense to deeply cherished constitutional values; and publications that incite hatred for a particular group, especially racial or religious groups, or a publication deemed obscene. Public school officials do, however, enjoy a strong presumption that their public acts are reasonable and that they have necessary expertise. (Author/IRT)