This report and its appendixes are the products of a 50-state study of current legal standards for public elementary and secondary education and represent a summary and comparative analysis of the law as it exists in the states today. State education policy-makers--state legislators and staff of legislative reference services, department of education personnel, university faculty members, lawyers and jurists, members of private educational organizations--should find the study useful both in re-examining the education laws of their own state and in developing new or alternative mechanisms for providing high quality public education. The bulk of the report consists of a series of 20 comparative charts and the descriptive materials that relate to them. The charts are designed to provide a quick method for comparing the manner in which each state treats a particular subject. The 20 areas covered in the charts are admission requirements, adult education, attendance enforcement agent, attendance requirements, curriculum, extracurricular activities, grade organization, guidance and counseling programs, high school graduation requirements, individual pupil records, inservice training, libraries, promotion requirements, pupil load/class size, pupil-teacher ratio, pupil transportation, safety and health requirements, school calendars, teacher personnel policies, and textbooks. (Author/IRT)