Kansas House Bill HB2763

Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/6/26
• Refer: 2/6/26
• Report Pass: 2/18/26
• Engrossed: 2/25/26
• Refer: 2/26/26
• Report Pass: 3/11/26
• Enrolled: 4/10/26

Caption

Requiring school districts to provide elementary students with a certain amount of daily recess, prohibiting limiting or withholding recess for disciplinary reasons, requiring a Kansas state fitness test and designating required recess time as part of the school term.

Summary

HB2763 would require Kansas school districts, beginning in the 2027-2028 school year, to provide at least 30 minutes of organized daily recess for elementary students in school days longer than five hours. The bill also bars schools from limiting or withholding recess for disciplinary reasons unless a student poses an immediate threat to self or others, and it defines recess as supervised unstructured play, physical activity, or social interaction rather than physical education class time. The bill further directs the State Board of Education to create and maintain a Kansas state physical fitness test aligned with the presidential physical fitness test for students in grades 1 through 12, with annual district administration beginning in 2026-2027. It excludes students with disabilities and those with medical exemptions, and it provides for awards tied to performance percentiles. The bill also amends the state’s school-term statute so that up to one hour of recess per day counts as part of the school term, while preserving existing provisions on school days, school hours, weather-related closures, parent-teacher conferences, staff development, and district scheduling flexibility.

Impact

HB2763 changes Kansas education law by adding a statewide recess mandate for elementary grades and by requiring a new statewide fitness-testing program. It amends K.S.A. 72-3115 to count organized recess time, up to one hour per day, as part of the school term, which affects how districts calculate compliance with required instructional time. The bill also creates new obligations for the State Board of Education and local districts, while carving out exceptions for students with disabilities and medical exemptions.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad overall support, as reflected in the strong final votes in both chambers and the unanimous House emergency final action vote. The Senate and House later adopted the conference committee report, though with more opposition than the earlier votes, suggesting some reservations about the final negotiated version. Overall, the sentiment in the legislative record is favorable toward promoting student physical activity and protecting recess time.

Contention

The main points of contention appear to be the mandatory nature of the recess requirement, the prohibition on withholding recess for discipline, and the statewide fitness-test mandate. Potential concerns likely center on local control, implementation burden, and whether recess should count toward school-term requirements. The narrower conference votes, especially in the House, indicate that some legislators may have objected to the final compromise even though the bill ultimately passed with substantial support.