Cases involving searches of public school pupils in order to obtain evidence of drug sales or use, and litigation challenging the punishments meted out to students found with drugs, continued to occupy the attention of courts in 1989. Also continuing a trend seen in previous years, religion-based challenges to state regulation of both home instruction and small private schools generated a high volume of cases. Finally, in the desegregation area, conflicting decisions again were issued by federal courts of appeal regarding the standards that lower courts should use in deciding if school districts had attained "unitary status." Cases are discussed under the following sections: (1) public school assignment, tuition, transportation, home instruction, and compulsory attendance; (2) private and parochial schools; (3) substantive rights of students, including search and seizure, and First Amendment religious and freedom of expression rights; (4) sanctions for student misconduct, including suspensions, expulsions, and corporal punishment; (5) bilingual and bicultural programs; and (6) desegregation, including cross-district remedies, desegregation plan oversight, and state court cases. (MLF)