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As Amended by House Committee
{As Amended by Senate Committee of the Whole}
As Amended by Senate Committee
Session of 2026
SENATE BILL No. 339
By Committee on Education
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AN ACT concerning education; relating to school districts; requiring
school districts to provide at least 30 minutes a certain amount of daily
recess and moderate physical activity time for students in grades
kindergarten through five ; prohibiting limiting or withholding
physical activity{ recess} for disciplinary reasons; requiring the
establishment and administration of a Kansas state fitness test ;
designating such the required recess time as part of the school term;
amending K.S.A. 72-3115 and repealing the existing section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
New Section 1. (a) {Beginning in school year 2027-2028, }for
each school day that exceeds five hours in duration, each school district
shall provide a minimum of 30 minutes of daily organized recess and a
minimum of 60 minutes of moderate physical activity within the school
day for all students in elementary grades kindergarten through five.
Notwithstanding such minimum daily requirement, school districts should
provide at least 60 minutes of such recess eight and a minimum of 30
minutes of moderate physical activity within the school day for all
students in grades nine through 12. Such physical activity may occur
during recess, physical education class or other organized activity as
designated by the school district, except that elementary grades shall
not include any grade higher than grade five . Any such recess may be
supervised by licensed or unlicensed school personnel.
(b) Physical activity{Recess }shall not be limited or withheld for
disciplinary reasons unless such student is an immediate threat to self or
others.
(c) As used in this section,{:
(1)} "moderate physical activity" means low-to-medium impact
physical exertion designed to increase a student's heart rate to rise to at
least 75% of the student's maximum heart rate. "Moderate physical
activity" includes, but is not limited to, running, calisthenics and aerobic
exercise. "Moderate physical activity" does not include time during
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which a student is permitted to use an electronic device or walking to
and from class.
{(2)(c) As used in this section, "recess" means the regularly
scheduled time during the school day when students may engage in
supervised unstructured play, physical activity or social interaction with
other students. "Recess" does not include time in physical education
class.}
New Sec. 2. (a) Beginning in school year 2026-2027, The state
board of education shall establish a Kansas state physical fitness test
that is aligned with the presidential physical fitness test to assess the
overall fitness of students in grades one through 12 after the standards
for the presidential physical fitness test are published . The state board
shall update the test as often as required to maintain alignment with the
presidential physical fitness test. The state board shall provide an award
for students who meet or exceed the state's 50 th percentile and an award
for students who meet or exceed the state's 85 th percentile on one or
more test events.
(b) Beginning in school year 2026-2027, each school district shall
annually administer the Kansas state physical fitness test to each student
enrolled in grades one through 12. This requirement shall not apply to
any student who is a child with a disability, as defined in K.S.A. 72-3404,
and amendments thereto, or has a medical exemption as determined by a
licensed physician.
Sec. 2. 3. {On and after July 1, 2027, } K.S.A. 72-3115 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 72-3115. (a) Subject to the other provisions of
this section, a school term during which public school shall be maintained
in each school year by each school district organized under the laws of this
state shall consist of not less than 186 school days for pupils students
attending kindergarten or any of the grades one through 11 and not less
than 181 school days for pupils students attending grade 12.
(b) Subject to a policy developed and adopted by the board of any
school district, the board may provide for a school term consisting of
school hours. A school term provided for in a policy adopted under this
subsection shall consist of: (1) For pupils students attending kindergarten,
not less than 465 school hours in each school year; and (2) for pupils
students attending any of the grades one through 11, not less than 1,116
school hours in each school year; and (3) for pupils students attending
grade 12, not less than 1,086 school hours in each school year. Each board
of education which that develops and adopts a policy providing for a
school term in accordance with this subsection shall notify the state board
of education thereof on or before September 15 in each school year for
which the policy is to be in effect.
(c) Subject to a plan developed and adopted by the board of any
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school district, the board may schedule the school days required for a
school term provided for under subsection (a), or the school hours required
for a school term provided for in a policy adopted under subsection (b), on
a trimestral or quarterly basis. Each board of education which that
develops and adopts a plan providing for the scheduling of the school days
or school hours of the school term on a trimestral or quarterly basis shall
submit the plan to the state board of education for approval prior to
implementation. The plan shall be prepared in such form and manner as
the state board shall require requires and shall be submitted at a time or
times to be determined and specified by the state board.
(d) Subject to a policy developed and adopted by the board of any
district as an adjunct to the district's disciplinary policy or as a part of the
district's school improvement plan, the board may schedule school days in
addition to the school days scheduled for a school term provided for under
subsection (a), or school hours in addition to the school hours scheduled
for a school term provided for in a policy adopted under subsection (b), or
both such additional school days and school hours for pupils students who
are in need of remedial education or who are subject to disciplinary
measures imposed under the district's disciplinary policy. Any school day
or school hour scheduled for a pupil student under a policy adopted under
this subsection may be scheduled on weekends, before or after regular
school hours, and during the summer months. Inexcusable absence from
school on any school day or during any school hour by any pupil student
for whom additional school days or school hours have been scheduled
under a policy adopted under this subsection shall be counted as an
inexcusable absence from school for the purposes of K.S.A. 72-3121, and
amendments thereto.
(e) If the board of any school district, or its designee, shall determine
that inclement weather will cause hazardous driving conditions, the board,
or its designee, may close any or all of the schools within the district. The
amount of time pupils students have been in attendance when such
determination is made shall be considered a school day of a school term or
shall be considered the number of school hours for pupils students to be in
attendance at school in a day, whichever is applicable. Consonant with the
other provisions of this section, a board may schedule any number of days
or hours in excess of the regularly scheduled school days or school hours
which that the board determines will be necessary to compensate for those
school days or school hours that schools of the district will remain closed
during the school term due to hazardous driving conditions. If the number
of days or hours schools remain closed due to hazardous driving
conditions exceeds the number of days or hours scheduled by the board to
compensate for such school days or school hours, the excess number of
days or hours, not to exceed whichever is the lesser of : (1) The number of
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compensatory days or hours scheduled by the board; or (2) five days or the
number of school hours regularly scheduled in five days, that schools
remain closed due to such conditions shall be considered school days or
school hours.
(f) The state board of education may waive the requirements of law
relating to the duration of the school term upon application for such a
waiver by a school district pursuant to subsection (e). Such waiver may be
granted by the state board of education upon: (1) Certification by a board
that, due to the persistence of inclement weather, hazardous driving
conditions have existed in the school district for an inordinate period of
time; and (2) a determination by the state board that the school district
cannot reasonably adjust its schedule to comply with statutory
requirements. Such waiver shall not exempt a school district from
providing a school offering for each pupil which student that is
substantially equivalent to that required by law.
(g) Time reserved for parent-teacher conferences for discussions on
the progress of pupils students may be considered part of the school term.
(h) Time reserved for staff development or inservice training
programs for the purpose of improving staff skills, developing competency
in new or highly specialized fields, improving instructional techniques, or
curriculum planning and study may be considered part of the school term
for an aggregate amount of time equal to the amount of time in excess of
the school term which is scheduled by a board of education for similar
activities.
(i) The time required for organized recess pursuant to section 1, and
amendments thereto, shall be considered part of the school term.
(j) Boards of education may employ noncertificated personnel to
supervise pupils students for noninstructional activities.
Sec. 3. 4. K.S.A. 72-3115 is hereby repealed.
Sec. 4. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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