Bill > HB2431

Introduced Session

AN ACT concerning education; enacting the student secular bill of rights; establishing statutory protections against religious coercion and discrimination in pubic schools; providing a cause of action for students and parents for violations thereof. WHEREAS, The separation of religion and government is a cornerstone of American jurisprudence recognized foremost in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and in all fifty of the states' constitutions; and WHEREAS, Protecting religious freedom and conscience rights serves students of all faiths and none, ensuring that no student is compelled to participate in religious exercises against their beliefs or nonbeliefs; and WHEREAS, In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson, an original supporter of the First Amendment, alongside primary author James Madison, described the First Amendment as "building a wall of separation between church and state"; and WHEREAS, In 1947, the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Everson v. Board of Education declared that, "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach"; and WHEREAS, In the same case, the Supreme Court also declared that the Establishment Clause means "at least" the following: "Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another . . . No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions . . . Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups, and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State'"; and WHEREAS, Democrats and Republicans alike, united in dedication to America's founding principles, have recognized the indispensable principle of separation between church and state, with President Ronald Reagan saying in 1984 that, "We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate"; and HB 2431 WHEREAS, All persons have the fundamental and inalienable right to worship, or not, according to the dictates of their own conscience, free from governmental influence or interference, so long as their practices do not excuse acts of lawlessness or justify practices inconsistent with the order, peace, or safety of the state, or the rights of others; and WHEREAS, In the 1948 decision McCollum v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that a "released time" program in public schools, where religious instruction was provided by outside teachers during school hours, violated the establishment clause because using public school facilities and resources to "aid any or all religious faiths or sects in the dissemination of their doctrines and ideals" constituted an unconstitutional endorsement of religion; and WHEREAS, In the 1962 decision Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court held that prayer composed by the state and recited over the intercom in public schools violates the Establishment Clause; and WHEREAS, In the 1968 decision Epperson v. Arkansas, the Supreme Court held that a state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools violated the Establishment Clause because the law was enacted to advance a particular religious viewpoint, constituting government endorsement of religion; and WHEREAS, In the 1980 decision Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court held that a law requiring the posting of privately funded Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms violated the Establishment Clause because the "pre-eminent purpose for posting the Ten Commandments on schoolroom walls is plainly religious in nature"; and WHEREAS, In the 1987 decision Edwards v. Aguillard, the Supreme Court held that a Louisiana law prohibiting the teaching of evolution unless accompanied by instruction in "creation science" was unconstitutional because the "preeminent purpose of the Louisiana Legislature was clearly to advance the religious viewpoint that a supernatural being created humankind," while an offered secular purpose for the law was "a sham"; and WHEREAS, In the 1992 decision Lee v. Weisman, the Supreme Court held that public schools cannot provide even nonsectarian prayer at public school events, that "preservation and transmission of religious beliefs and worship is a responsibility and choice committed to the private sphere," and that it was not a remedy to simply say that students could avoid the prayer by foregoing their own graduation; and WHEREAS, In the 2000 decision Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the Supreme Court heldthat school-sponsored prayer at a public school event violates the Constitution of the United States by sending the message to nonbelievers that "they are outsiders, not full HB 2431 members of the political community," even when those prayers are student led; and WHEREAS, These rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States are in danger of being overturned or otherwise eroded by future rulings; and WHEREAS, The protection of religious and academic freedom in public schools must be strengthened through statutory protections to preserve the integrity of public education and ensure all students may exercise their fundamental rights; and WHEREAS, The Constitution of the State of Kansas provides a vehicle for protecting these rights at the state level; and WHEREAS, It is the state's inherent duty as sovereign to guarantee the rights of its people. Now, therefore:

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Heather Meyer (D)*,  Melissa Oropeza (D),  Susan Ruiz (D), 

House Referred to Committee on Education (on 01/12/2026)

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Official Document