This report is an examination of the legal structure underlying state compulsory school attendance requirements and the likely legal and policy consequences that might result from repeal or amendment of the statues that form that structure. Its purpose is twofold. First, it is to provide a useful presentation of the massive amount of federal and state constitutional, statutory, and case law directly relating to compulsory school attendance. Second, it is to analyze and comment on this body of law in such a manner as to provide the legal basis for an examination of the desirability of the requirement of compulsory attendance as it is currently defined in the United States. The examination begins with a review of the historical evolution of compulsory attendance laws and of the related system of laws regulating child labor. Each chapter contains a detailed commentary and a variety of specific conclusions about its content. (Author/IRT)