Kansas state lawmakers are pushing a bill to crack down on student walkouts after a string of anti-ICE protests in local schools. But the bill has become a centerpoint in a debate over free speech and school discipline.
The Lawrence Times reported that the Kansas Senate approved an amendment to Senate Bill 315 earlier this month. Now, the state House is taking up the measure.
Kansas high school students worry their First Amendment rights could be violated under a new Senate bill, with many students saying they won’t be able to make their voices heard in school if protests are more regulated.
The Kansas Senate included a proviso in its version of the state budget that would require public school students to obtain parental permission to participate in protests and impose fines on school districts for protests. School days that include a student walkout wouldn’t count as instructional days for state requirements.
The proposal was introduced at a time when students across Kansas have staged walkouts during the school day protesting heightened federal immigration policy and the Trump administration.
Eli Cokelet, a senior at Lawrence High School and the president of Young Democrats Club, said laws as well as parents should not be a deciding factor in a student’s right to protest.
“As high schoolers, most people can’t vote. The main thing we can do is educate ourselves and protest,” Cokelet said. “The First Amendment does not stop at the schoolhouse gate. So constitutionally, we’re guaranteed the right to speak out. And I believe walking out of school in a protest is our way to speak out.”
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Kansas Senate votes to clamp down on public school protests by requiring students to get parental permission to participate and by imposing penalties on districts, including a fine equal to the superintendent's salary #ksleg #ksed via @TimVCarpenter https://t.co/Nj2VBtYrlI
— Sherman Smith (@sherman_news) March 4, 2026
There have been several student anti-ICE protests in Kansas this year. Students at Lawrence High School and Free State High School held walkouts in late January, with hundreds of students and community members participating.
Students at other high schools, including Derby High School organized walkouts to protest against federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The bill’s language mandates that students would need parental permission to participate in the protests. School districts that fail to comply with the measure could face fines — especially if staff members encouraged or enabled a walkout. The fine could be equivalent to the superintendent’s base salary for each day a district has a walkout.
Critics argue that the bill is a violation of the First Amendment. Adam Goldstein with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) pointed out that students are generally protected by the First Amendment when it comes to expressing oneself through clothing, petitions, flyers, or outside of school hours. However, it is not clear whether it would protect them for attending a protest on school time.
He argued that if a school “does choose to discipline a student for walking out to join a protest, it has to do it consistently with how it would punish any other student for cutting class.”
Goldstein further contended that “Punishing a student more harshly because they wanted to express their opinion would be viewpoint discrimination, which is never permissible under the First Amendment.”
This is part of a larger national trend. Students across the country have organized walkout events in states like Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and others, according to USA Today. Hundreds of students have faced detention or suspension for taking part in the demonstrations.
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