TOPEKA — A requirement that Kansas high school students pass a civics test before graduation is closer to being a reality after the House gave its approval Thursday.

House Bill 2412 moves to the governor’s desk after passing the House 80 to 43. It passed the Senate 23-14 on March 27.

The bill also requires school districts to teach students above the elementary school level about “the negative impacts of communist, fascist, and socialist regimes and ideologies.”

Rep. Susan Estes, a Wichita Republican, said students would take a test of 20 questions pulled from the U.S. citizenship test. They would be required to get a 70% score and could retake the test as often as they need. It will only be administered in English.

Democratic opponents questioned the need for the test and said all students are required to take a civics class before graduation. Rep. Kirk Haskins, D-Topeka, said proponents of the bill were all from outside the state, while opponents were all Kansans.

“If we’re going to make an examination that will be best for our children in Kansas, I would really like to have the support of those who are representing Kansas educators to be on board,” he said.

Rep. Jerry Stogsdill, D-Prairie Village, said the Legislature was interfering in decisions that should be made locally.

“We’re looking to do the job of our local school boards who have been doing curriculum decisions ever since we started public schools in the state of Kansas,” he said. “If you think that the decisions for your local school board should be made here in this chamber and in the Senate chamber, then this is your bill.”

Stogsdill said that what is good for one community may not work in another community, and it is the job of school boards and the state Board of Education to make those educational decisions.

Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, said increased civics education is a “huge need.” He spearheaded an effort in 2021 to pass a similar bill, which Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed.

“We are not teaching to our young people what they need to know and learn so that we can keep what we have, what our founding fathers blessed us with, which is the greatest government ever created on this earth,” he said.

Also Thursday morning, the House voted down 37-86 another bill focused on Kansas schools, House Bill 2164.  

The bill would have required fifth grade students and below to have 30 minutes of recess allowing unstructured play, which couldn’t be lost for disciplinary reasons unless the student is a danger to themselves or others.

“The kids who are struggling, sometimes they just need to be able to go out and be a kid, and that helps attitude adjustments tremendously,” said Estes, who carried the bill. 

The bill also contained a requirement that all students, grades 1 through 12, take a physical fitness test, and it specified certain food additives that would be banned from school lunches.

Estes said adopting the fitness test was part of the Rural Transformation Health grant the state received.

“The grant is worth $200 million a year for five years,” she said, adding that the dollars are important to rural Kansans.

“It can include transportation to dialysis, chemotherapy. It’s helping our hospitals to stay open,” she said.

Stogsdill again protested the interference in local control and didn’t agree with the physical education test rewarding the top 50% of kids who completed it.

“How do you think that impacts those kids on the lower 50%,” he asked. “It’s humiliating. It’s an attack on their self esteem.”

Rep. Dan Osman, D-Overland Park, and others raised concerns that the food additive bill hadn’t been heard in the chamber before. 

“This is likely to raise the cost of school meals,” he said. “How are we addressing this? We’re not.”

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

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