KS lawmakers override veto to crack down on student protests during school day
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- GOP added protest penalties to the budget and overrode Gov. Kelly’s veto to enact them.
- Districts can face fines equal to a superintendent’s base pay per walkout day.
- State school board will adjudicate complaints and levy fines.
Starting next school year, Kansas public school districts could face steep fines when students participate in walkouts during the school day.
The crackdown on student protests, a provision included in next year’s state budget, was adopted by Republican supermajorities in the Legislature over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
Under its language, districts could face fines equal to the superintendent’s annual base salary for “each school day that a district experiences a student walkout” that meets three criteria.
Fines could be levied against districts that neglect to discipline students for participating in organized protests and fail to obtain written parental permission for each student. Those fines could only be levied if staff members also “encourage, facilitate or enable” the walkout — a determination that the state school board would have to make upon receiving a complaint.
“The courts have been clear that students do not give up their constitutional rights when they step inside school doors. This clause is unconstitutional,” said Rep. Linda Featherston, an Overland Park Democrat.
The provision was added to the budget last month by Sen. Michael Murphy, a Sylvia Republican. During Friday’s floor debate, he reiterated his position that students aren’t meant to exercise their right to protest during the school day.
“They’re there to learn,” Murphy said. “And while we understand that you can learn while you’re not in the school, you can also protest outside of school hours.”
The Senate voted 27-12 to override Kelly’s veto on the budget line item hours after the House voted 87-36 to do the same.
The fines that the state board of education will now be responsible for levying against districts could be six figures for a single violation, depending on the superintendent’s salary. State records show the median base salary for Kansas superintendents in the 2023-24 school year was $138,950.
But some superintendent salaries are considerably higher. In Olathe Public Schools — which experienced a series of student walkouts this spring over aggressive ICE enforcement actions — the superintendent’s base salary is $286,324.
On top of fines, any day that a student walkout occurs will not count as an instructional day for purposes of meeting the district’s annual academic requirements.
‘Nobility of a walkout’
The override vote on the K-12 school protest crackdown came a day after lawmakers overrode Kelly’s veto on a largely symbolic piece of legislation named after the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Kansas Intellectual Rights and Knowledge, or KIRK Act, reinforces college students’ right to engage in free speech activities on campus.
“It is ironic that the Legislature has made a point to pass legislation attempting to protect th efreedom of speech of students at Kansas public schools and universities this session while also slipping this proviso into the budget without a hearing or formal review of its implications,” Kelly said in her veto message. “This proviso does the exact opposite of those bills — penalizing school districts and students if they choose to speak out about their beliefs during the school day.”
The budget includes no extra funding for the state school board to investigate protest complaints.
Sen. Silas Miller, a Wichita Democrat, said the budget item will create a “bounty situation” that incentivizes people to submit complaints about protests that they disagree with on ideological grounds.
“Civil disobedience is what ultimately got me involved in politics in the first place, so it’s important to me that we maintain protections for First Amendment rights,” Miller said.
Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said the strict new approach to combatting school-day disruptions actually “preserves the nobility of the walkout” by raising the stakes of students’ actions.
“There’s nothing to be disobedient to or for if you’re simply let out of the building and you have staff encouraging participation in the walkout,” Shane said.
Before the override vote, Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, addressed Kansas students directly from the House floor.
“They want you to just sit down and be quiet,” Xu said. “They want to make an example of you, that if you do stand up, there will be consequences for you or your school.
“But hear this directly from me,” he continued. “You are not troublemakers. Like our forefathers, you are being engaged citizens, and the moment that the government starts writing laws to silence its youngest voices is the moment that your voices become the most important ones in the room.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 7:14 PM.
