Decreasing the minimum age requirement from age seven to six for compulsory school attendance of students.

Session of 2026
HOUSE BILL No. 2717
By Committee on K-12 Education Budget
Requested by Representative Estes
2-5
AN ACT concerning education; relating to compulsory attendance;
decreasing the minimum age requirement from age seven to six for
compulsory school attendance of students; amending K.S.A. 2025
Supp. 72-3120 and repealing the existing section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-3120 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 72-3120. (a) Subject to the other provisions of this section, every
parent or person acting as parent in the state of Kansas, who has control
over or charge of any child who has reached the age of seven six years on
or before August 31 and is under the age of 18 years and has not attained a
high school diploma, a general educational development credential or a
high school equivalency credential, shall require such child to be regularly
enrolled in and attend continuously each school year:
(1) A public school for the duration of the school term provided for in
K.S.A. 72-3115, and amendments thereto;
(2) a private, denominational or parochial school taught by a
competent instructor for a period of time which is substantially equivalent
to the period of time public school is maintained in the school district in
which the private, denominational or parochial school is located; or
(3) a combination of a public school and a private, denominational or
parochial school for the periods of time referred to in paragraphs (1) and
(2).
(b) If the child is 16 or 17 years of age, the child shall be exempt
from the compulsory attendance requirements of this section if:
(1) The child is regularly enrolled in and attending a program
recognized by the local board of education as an approved alternative
educational program;
(2) the parent or person acting as parent provides written consent to
allow the child to be exempt from the compulsory attendance requirements
of this section and the child and the parent or person acting as parent
attend a final counseling session conducted by the school during which a
disclaimer to encourage the child to remain in school or to pursue
educational alternatives is presented to and signed by the child and the
parent or person acting as parent. The disclaimer shall include information
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regarding the academic skills that the child has not yet achieved, the
difference in future earning power between a high school graduate and a
high school drop out and a listing of educational alternatives that are
available for the child;
(3) the child is regularly enrolled in a school as required by
subsection (a) and is concurrently enrolled in a postsecondary educational
institution, as defined by K.S.A. 74-3201b, and amendments thereto; or
(4) the child is subject to a court order that allows or requires the
child to be exempt from the compulsory attendance requirements.
(c) Any child who is under the age of seven six years, but who is
enrolled in school, shall be subject to the compulsory attendance
requirements of this section. Any such child may be withdrawn from
enrollment in school at any time by a parent or person acting as parent of
the child and thereupon the child shall be exempt from the compulsory
attendance requirements of this section until the child reaches the age of
seven six years or is re-enrolled in school.
(d) Any child who is determined to be an exceptional child, except
for an exceptional child who is determined to be a gifted child, under the
provisions of the special education for exceptional children act shall be
subject to the compulsory attendance requirements of such act and exempt
from the compulsory attendance requirements of this section.
(e) Any child who has been admitted to, and is attending, the Kansas
academy of mathematics and science, as provided in K.S.A. 72-3903 et
seq., and amendments thereto, shall be exempt from the compulsory
attendance requirements of this section.
(f) No child attending public school in this state shall be required to
participate in any activity which is contrary to the religious teachings of
the child if a written statement signed by one of the parents or a person
acting as parent of the child is filed with the proper authorities of the
school attended requesting that the child not be required to participate in
such activities and stating the reason for the request.
(g) When a recognized church or religious denomination that objects
to a regular public high school education provides, offers and teaches,
either individually or in cooperation with another recognized church or
religious denomination, a regularly supervised program of instruction that
is approved by the state board of education, for children of compulsory
school attendance age who have successfully completed the eighth grade,
participation in such a program of instruction by any such children whose
parents or persons acting as parents are members of the sponsoring church
or religious denomination shall be regarded as acceptable school
attendance within the meaning of this act. Approval of such programs shall
be granted by the state board of education, for two-year periods, upon
application from recognized churches and religious denominations, under
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the following conditions:
(1) Each participating child shall be engaged, during each day on
which attendance is legally required in the public schools in the school
district in which the child resides, in at least five hours of learning
activities appropriate to the adult occupation that the child is likely to
assume in later years;
(2) acceptable learning activities, for the purposes of this subsection,
shall include projects supervised by a parent or person acting as parent in
agriculture and homemaking, work-study programs in cooperation with
local business and industry and correspondence courses from schools
accredited by the national home study council, recognized by the United
States office of education as the competent accrediting agency for private
home study schools;
(3) at least 15 hours per week of classroom work under the
supervision of an instructor shall be provided, at which time students shall
be required to file written reports of the learning activities they have
pursued since the time of the last class meeting, indicating the length of
time spent on each one, and the instructor shall examine and evaluate such
reports, approve plans for further learning activities and provide necessary
assignments and instruction;
(4) regular attendance reports shall be filed as required by law and
students shall be reported as absent for each school day on which they
have not completed the prescribed minimum of five hours of learning
activities;
(5) the instructor shall keep complete records concerning instruction
provided, assignments made and work pursued by the students, and these
records shall be filed on the first day of each month with the state board of
education and the board of education of the school district in which the
child resides;
(6) the instructor shall be capable of performing competently the
functions entrusted thereto; and
(7) in applying for approval under this subsection a recognized
church or religious denomination shall certify its objection to a regular
public high school education and shall specify, in such detail as the state
board of education may reasonably require, the program of instruction that
it intends to provide and no such program shall be approved unless it fully
complies with standards specified by the state board of education.
If the sponsors of an instructional program approved under this
subsection fail to comply at any time with the provisions of this
subsection, the state board of education shall rescind, after a written
warning has been served and a period of three weeks allowed for
compliance, approval of the programs, even though the two-year approval
period has not elapsed, and thereupon children attending such program
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shall be admitted to a high school of the school district.
(h) (1) Each board of education of a school district shall allow any
child to enroll part-time in the school district to allow the student to attend
any courses, programs or services offered by the school district if the
child:
(A) Is also enrolled in a nonaccredited private elementary or
secondary school pursuant to K.S.A. 72-4345, and amendments thereto, or
in any other private, denominational or parochial school pursuant to the
provisions of subsection (a);
(B) requests to enroll part-time in the school district; and
(C) meets the age of eligibility requirements for school attendance
pursuant to K.S.A. 72-3118, and amendments thereto.
(2) Each board of education of a school district shall adopt a policy
regarding the part-time enrollment of students pursuant to this subsection
and shall publish such policy on the school district's website. The board of
education of a school district shall make a good faith attempt to
accommodate scheduling requests of students enrolling in the school
district pursuant to this subsection but shall not be required to make
adjustments to accommodate every such request.
(i) If a parent or person acting as a parent is a member of a
recognized church or religious denomination that objects to the
compulsory attendance age for any child who has reached the age of six
years pursuant to subsection (a), such parent or person acting as a parent
may, by written consent, exempt the child from such compulsory
attendance requirement if such child has not yet reached the age of seven
years. Any child exempted pursuant to this subsection shall be subject to
the compulsory attendance requirements of this section when such child
has reached the age of seven years.
(j) As used in this section:
(1) "Educational alternatives" means an alternative learning plan for
the student that identifies educational programs that are located in the area
where the student resides and are designed to aid the student in obtaining a
high school diploma, general educational development credential or other
certification of completion, such as a career technical education industry
certification. Such alternative learning plans may include extended
learning opportunities such as independent study, private instruction,
performing groups, internships, community service, apprenticeships and
online coursework.
(2) "Parent" and "person acting as parent" mean the same as such
terms are defined in K.S.A. 72-3122*, and amendments thereto.
(3) "Regularly enrolled" means enrolled in five or more hours of
instruction each school day. For the purposes of subsection (b)(3), hours of
instruction received at a postsecondary educational institution shall be
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counted.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 72-3120 is hereby repealed.
Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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