The constitutional basis for laws concerning rights of the handicapped lies in the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection and due process clauses. Recent litigation has been based on Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, P.L. 94-142. Significant court decisions affecting education have been handed down in five areas. Regarding right to free education, the courts have held that public schools cannot exclude children from school nor charge them extra tuition for special programs. Regarding right to an appropriate education, courts have held that the schools must identify all handicapped students and provide them an appropriate education. In the area of disciplinary exclusion, cases challenging the expulsion of handicapped students have generally ended in requiring schools to offer alternative placement to the students. Regarding the right to the least restrictive alternative, courts have maintained that a handicapped child cannot be excluded from the regular classroom or from regular extracurricular activities if otherwise qualified. In a case regarding discrimination against handicapped school employees, the Third Circuit Court upheld a lower court decision that struck down a school district policy of not hiring blind persons. These cases appear to produce more questions than answers, especially concerning the recourse available when rights are denied. (Author/JM)