The Kansas Legislature meets once a year, but it plans, budgets and tracks legislation across a two-year cycle. Because of this, 68 education-related bills were carried over from last session.

Several new education-related bills have also been introduced so far, starting Monday, Jan. 12, the first day of the legislative session. They include a bill requiring school districts to prohibit the use of personal electronic communication devices during school hours; a bill that would establish statutory protections against religious coercion and discrimination in public schools; and more.
 

Bill Tracker:

New bills for 2026:

• HB 2409: Prohibiting the commencement of each school term prior to Labor Day.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2411: Reducing the required waiting period for employment of KPERS retirants hired by a school district for a covered position that requires a teaching license or certificate.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Financial Institutions and Pensions.
     
• HB 2415: Requiring each local board of education of a school district to appoint a nonvoting student representative to such board of education.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2420: Requiring school districts to obtain parental consent prior to providing certain school-based mental health services to a student.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22.
     
• HB 2421: Requiring school districts to prohibit the use of personal electronic communication devices during school hours, prohibiting any employee of a school district from using social media to directly communicate with any student for official school purposes and requiring school districts to report on the amount of screen time that certain students experience during a typical school day.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2431: Enacting the student secular bill of rights to establish statutory protections against religious coercion and discrimination in public schools.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2468: Electing to participate in the federal tax credit for individual contributions to scholarship granting organizations and increasing the aggregate tax credit limit on the tax credit for low income students scholarship program.
  • A hearing was held on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The State Board of Education provided opponent testimony.
     
• HB 2482: Removing the requirement that the state board of education use a certain exam provider to deliver certain college entrance and career readiness exams and requiring the board to provide for such exams using any provider.
  • Referred to the House Committee on K-12 Education Budget.
     
• HB 2486: Requiring children to be toilet trained to enroll in and attend kindergarten in any public school and providing certain exceptions thereto.
  • A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29, in the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2489: Requiring school districts to provide fentanyl abuse education programs and maintain supplies of naloxone in each school.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• HB 2510: Requiring each school district board of education to allocate membership association dues to individual board members and prohibiting the payment of such dues if a board member elects not to join such membership association.
  • Referred to the House Committee on Education.
     
• SB 302: Requiring school districts to prohibit the use of personal electronic communication devices during instructional time and prohibiting any employee of a school district from using social media to directly communicate with any student for official school purposes.
  • A hearing was held in Senate Education on Thursday, Jan. 15. The State Board provided neutral testimony.
     
• SB 309: Increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy.
  • Referred to the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation.
     
• SB 315: Making and concerning supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2026 and appropriations for fiscal years 2027 and 2028 for various state agencies, authorizing certain capital improvement projects and fees, authorizing certain transfers.
   
• SB 338: Including a home school within the definition of private elementary and secondary school and defining home school.
  •  A hearing was held in Senate Education on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
     
• SB 339: Requiring school districts to provide at least 30 minutes of daily recess time for students in grades kindergarten through five and designating such time as part of the school term.
  • A hearing was held in Senate Education on Thursday, Jan. 22.
     
• SB 340: Prohibiting promise scholarship awards from being used to fund corequisite courses.
  • Referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
     
• SB 341: Providing requirements for agreements between a school district and a postsecondary educational institution for the provision of postsecondary courses taught in secondary schools.
  • A hearing was held in Senate Education on Thursday, Jan 22.
     
• SB 342: Extending the expiration date of the Kansas School Equity and Enhancement Act from 2027 to 2028.
  • Referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
     
• SB 349: Requiring the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) to establish a school classification system for activities based on student attendance and a multiplier factor that adjusts certain schools' student attendance.
  • Referred to the Senate Committee on Education.
     
• SB 350: Enacting the age-appropriate school device act to establish safety standards and requirements for the use of school-issued devices in certain grade levels and authorizing parents to opt students out of certain uses of such devices. 
  • Referred to the Senate Committee on Education.

Carryover bills passed out of committee:

• SB 48: Requiring school districts to demonstrate improvement in academic performance and be in compliance with all federal and state statutes and rules and regulations to achieve or maintain accreditation.
  • Referred back to the Senate Committee on Education.
     
• SB 49: Requiring that each attendance center needs assessment be conducted by the local board of education and include input from board members, teachers, school site councils and school administrators and that board members receive certain state assessment data and identify allocations of money in the school district budget and budget summary.
  • Referred back to the Senate Committee on Education.
     
• SB 75: Establishing the education opportunity tax credit to provide an income tax credit for taxpayers with eligible dependent children who are not enrolled in public school.
  • No movement yet in 2026.
     
• SB 263: Establishing standards and requirements for active shooter drills conducted by public and accredited nonpublic elementary and secondary schools.
  • No movement yet in 2026.
     
• HB 2104: Standardizing firearm safety programs in school districts.
  • No movement yet in 2026.

Carryover bills passed by a chamber:

• SB 47: Requiring school districts to publicly list the names and email addresses of current school board members, authorizing local school board members to add new items to board meeting discussions, ask questions or engage in discussion with members of the public and access school property, authorizing members of the public to address school boards at board meetings and authorizing payment of annual dues to any not-for-profit organization that provides services to member school districts.
  • Passed as amended in the Senate 21-19 in 2025; referred to the House Committee on Education.
  • No movement yet in 2026.
     
• HB 2034: Authorizing school districts to employ chaplains or accept such persons as volunteers.
  • Introduced and referred to the House Committee on Education in 2025.
  • A hearing was held Jan. 14, 2026, in the committee.
     
• Senate Substitute for HB 2164: Prohibiting certain sex offenders from entering onto school property or attending school activities and creating criminal penalties for violation thereof.
  • Passed in the Senate 38-2; the House non-concurred on amendments made to the bill and it was assigned to a conference committee.
  • No movement yet in 2026.
     
• HB 2203: Including children with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder under the definition of other health impairment in the special education for exceptional children act.
  • Introduced and referred to the House Committee on Education in 2025.
  • A hearing was held Jan. 15, 2026, in the committee, with a hearing continuation scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22.

Education Committee Happenings

House Committee on Education

In conjunction with Literacy Day at the statehouse, the House Committee on Education heard updates on the Blueprint for Literacy from Dr. Cynthia Lane. The committee also held hearings on HB 2468, HB 2420 and HB 2203.
 

Senate Committee on Education

In addition to hearing updates on the Blueprint for Literacy, the Senate Committee on Education held hearings on SB 338, SB 339 and SB 341.

House Committee on K-12 Education Budget

Committee members heard a presentation from Dr. Frank Harwood, KSDE deputy commissioner of Fiscal and Administrative Services, and Dr. Renee Nugent, KSDE deputy commissioner of the Division of Learning Services, on the state of education in Kansas.

They discussed enrollment trends and the state budget; school improvement and student outcomes; and graduation and postsecondary rates.

The committee voted Wednesday, Jan. 21, to pass out the 2026-2027 Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) budget and the 2026-2027 Kansas School for the Deaf (KSD) budget as amended favorably.

Up Next 

The Senate is adjourned until 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23. The House is adjourned until 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 23.

The House Committee on K-12 Education Budget will hold hearings next week on the Kansas State Department of Education’s budgets, including reviewing free lunch student counts used as the basis for at-risk funding. The committee is scheduled to make budget recommendations for KSDE on Thursday, Jan. 29.

The Senate Committee on Education is scheduled to hold a budget hearing for KSDE, KSSB and KSD.

The House Committee on Education is scheduled to hold informational hearings on Kansas ACT score trends and FastBridge; a roundtable discussion on defining and measuring success; and bill hearings on HB 2485, HB 2487 and HB 2486.

Members of the 2026 Kansas Teacher of the Year team will present at a joint meeting of the Senate and House education committees on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Click here to see calendars and journals of the House and Senate, and agendas for committees. Click here for other useful links and information from KSDE.