A study of federal court decisions issued between February 1969 and the end of 1982 revealed that while students do have clearly defined constitutional rights, they also have many legal responsibilities. Forty-two areas of student responsibility are discussed, and 135 relevant court cases are cited. (PGD)

Reviews and synthesizes court rulings that have expressly discussed the factor of economic cost in considerations of appropriateness of special-education programing. Advises educators to expend their resources in providing appropriate individual special-education programs rather than litigating the costs of those programs. (197 references) (MLF)