Recent court decisions are described under the following headings: (1) requests by parents to have their children excused from parts of the curriculum that conflict with their religious beliefs; (2) requests by parents to have textbooks removed from the curriculum; (3) use of school facilities by outside religious groups; (4) benedictions and invocations; (5) mandated religious representation on school board advisory councils; (6) requests by parents for special education related services in parochial schools; and (7) must public education services be provided to individuals in an exclusively isolated religious environment? The seventh section, comprising half of religious environment. The seventh section, comprising half of the document, discusses what is called "the anatomy of a special problem in New York State." The case of "Grumet et al. v. State Education Department et al." concerns the Satmar Hasidim, an orthodox Jewish sect that makes social isolation a goal of the community, and the litigation that has developed in the sect's establishment of the Kiryas Joel Village School District and provision of special education and related services. The state supreme court has ruled that legislation establishing the school district violated both the federal and state constitutions' separation of church and state provisions. All parties to this action have been widely quoted as stating that they would continue to appeal this action until it reached the United States Supreme Court. (MLF)