On Monday, March 23rd, 2026, it was announced that the Kansas Legislature was considering a bill to ban sports practices and school activities on Wednesdays after 6 p.m., Sundays, and some holidays. This was proposed to protect family time and outside-of-school activities, such as church youth events.
These terms are included in Senate Bill 515, which started as a bill to allow homeschoolers to participate in private school activities and sports, as they can already participate in public schools. The floor amendment was proposed by Senator Chase Blasi of Wichita, Kansas. He brought up that it has been made clear that school activities have changed and have stopped respecting the limits of activities on certain occasions. On Wednesdays, there would be no school activities allowed after 6 p.m. On Sundays, the entire school would be closed for the day to respect time for church and families. There would also be certain windows for holidays, including a four-day window for Easter, a five-day limit on Christmas, and a seven-day limit on Independence Day.
This is out of the ordinary to have a state-wide bill passed, since most school affairs are controlled by the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA). KSHSAA already enforces many of these with a five-day window during Christmas, buffer weeks, and dead week falling on the same days proposed. The only additions would be prohibitions on Wednesdays and Sundays. KSHSAA recommends no activities on Sundays, but this law would impose strict rules that would make schools have to follow instead.
Although this law has good intentions, it will cause major turmoil in schools. Here at Southeast, there is Shoot Around, musical practice, musical performances, FCCLA work nights, BAM meetings, and many more. This would cause all of these activities to be crammed into the week and cause more kids to have to choose between one activity or another. This ban could cause schools to have to reduce the number of activities throughout the week. Another con of this would be that not all religions are included. If this ban is purely for church and youth activities, there are multiple opposing arguments for all other religions and their personal time being imposed on. The counter to that is that it can be used for family time, and that this used to be universally respected, and now it has fallen off, and home time has become an afterthought.
Overall, Senate Bill 515 is a positive idea that could benefit many students and their families during the week to give them a day to get home at a reasonable time. The drawbacks outweigh the benefits as of now. So many activities occur on these possible restricted days, and this will add more stress to the administration if it comes into effect. The fewer days for activities to occur, the more they have to overlap, causing a loss of time. If schools continue to respect family time and give space for students to enjoy their lives outside of school, this would not be a problem, but with the constant pressure to always be involved at school, this might be a necessity to protect the students.
Works Cited
Carpenter, Tim. “Kansas Legislature’s negotiators on education bills drop sports ban tied to Christian calendar.” Kansas Reflector, 4 March 2026.
Lefler, Dion. “Bill to outlaw Wednesday night school sports passes Kansas Senate.” The Wichita Eagle, 25 March 2026, https://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dion-lefler/article315156301.html.
