Kansas Bill Amendment on Student Walkouts Draws Attention as Central High ICE Protest Highlights Attendance Questions, Proposed Penalty Size Tied to Superintendent Salary
A proposed amendment to a Kansas state budget bill would create a new complaint process and financial penalties for public school districts that experience certain student walkouts, language that is drawing added attention locally as student protest activity in Salina raises questions about attendance policy and instructional time.
The amendment to Substitute for SB 315 would create penalties in cases where a district experiences a student walkout and is found to have failed to obtain written parental consent, failed to enforce attendance laws and discipline, or had staff who encouraged, facilitated, or enabled the walkout.
Under the proposed language, the Kansas State Board of Education would handle complaints and determine whether a district should be penalized.
Proposed penalty tied to superintendent salary
The amendment proposes a penalty amount equal to the contract base salary of the superintendent for each school day a district experiences a qualifying walkout.
It also states those funds would be remitted to the state and deposited into the state general fund. The amendment further states that each school day in which a district experiences such a walkout would not count as an instructional day for school term purposes.
How the amendment defines a student walkout
The amendment defines a student walkout as an organized effort for students to willfully violate school attendance requirements.
That definition is likely to be a key point in how the language is debated and whether it would apply to demonstrations occurring during the school day that are not school-sponsored.
Why it is relevant in Salina today
The amendment is especially relevant in Salina today after a protest occurred outside Central High School tied to opposition to ICE raids and immigration enforcement actions reported nationally.
The Central High event was not a school-sponsored activity, and it raised local questions about attendance enforcement, student supervision, and how districts handle demonstrations during instructional time.
Sen. Scott Hill statement to Salina311
Kansas State Sen. Scott Hill provided the following statement to Salina311 regarding the issue:
" our public education system has a critical role in preparing the next generation of Kansans academically, scenitfically, and vocationally. public schhools have a constitutionally funded obligation to be serious about instructional time. any variation from that is a mistrust of taxpayer resources. Non school sponsored activites that impinge on that insturctional time and result in unexcused abscences must be disci0pline according to distric policy."
Hill’s statement emphasizes instructional time, taxpayer accountability, and district enforcement of attendance and discipline policies for non-school-sponsored activities that result in unexcused absences.
