Perhaps no judicial decision affecting nation's scholastic press has received more attention from researchers than Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier ruling, which allowed school administrators to censor school publications are not public forums if censorship is pedagogically related. Same researchers and commentators have stated ruling was a major change in status of freedom of high school press and has led to increased censorship and self-censorship (Student Press Law Center, 1994; Hernandez, 1995). Other researchers and commentators have contended ruling did nothing to change administrators' authority over ability of students to send and receive information through school publications and has had minimal effect on student press (Salomone, 1992; Click, Kopenhaver and Hatcher,1993; Dvorak, Lain and Dickson, 1994; Dickson and Paxton 1997). In wake of Hazelwood ruling and outcry over censorship of student press, four states enacted state freedom of expression laws covering high school journalists: Arkansas (Arkansas Student Publications Act, 1995), Colorado (Rights of Free Expression for Public School Students, 1990), Iowa (Student Exercise of Free Expression, 1989), and Kansas (Student Publications,1992]. A fifth state, Massachusetts, amended its freedom of expression law (Right of Students to Freedom of Expression, 1974), following Hazelwood. A sixth state, California, already had a freedom of expression law covering high school journalists when Hazelwood was decided (Student Exercise of Freedom of Speech and Press, 1983). A 1997 attempt to enact a similar law in Illinois failed when state Senate failed to override a veto by Gov. Jim Edgar (Illinois Lawmakers, 1997). This study, based on a national random-sample survey of high school newspaper advisors, is first attempt to determine on a nationwide basis whether amount of press freedom at public high schools differs in states with scholastic freedom of press laws and states without such laws. Hazelwood While not directly involving freedom of press issues, a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision appeared to solidify fundamental First Amendment rights of free expression for students in public schools. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, Supreme Court overturned suspension of teen-aged students for wearing black armbands to class to demonstrate their opposition to Vietnam war. The Court's decision, while noting student expression disrupting classroom activity still could be banned, stated expression did not cause a disruption was protected by First Amendment. It can hardly be argued, Court said, that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at schoolhouse gate (p. 507). An indication Supreme Court was willing to differentiate between personal speech and school-sponsored speech came in 1986 when Supreme Court in Bethel School District v. Fraser ruled a high school student's free speech rights were not violated when he was punfished for making a speech filled with sexual innuendoes at a student assembly. As Court said, in its opinion, the freedom to advocate unpopular and controversial views in schools and classrooms must be balanced against society's countervailing interest in teaching students boundaries of socially appropriate behavior (p. 681). In well-publicized and much discussed 1988 Hazelwood decision, Supreme Court for first time addressed question of whether censorship of student expression in school newspaper was unconstitutional. In Hazelwood case, students enrolled in Journalism II at Hazelwood East High School in Missouri attempted to publish an edition of school newspaper containing two stories principal disliked. One was based on interviews with students (identified with pseudonyms) who had become pregnant. …