Kansas students would be prohibited from walking out of school to protest without parental permission, if a provision passed by the state Senate survives the legislative budget process.

The Senate approved the student protest amendment Tuesday as part of its budget, which leaders from both chambers will have to reconcile with the one passed by the House. 

The amendment by Sen. Michael Murphy, R-Sylvia, provides financial penalties for schools that violate it. 

Any public school that experiences a walkout without receiving written parental consent for each student who leaves the school, fails to uphold school absence policies and consequences, or has a walkout encouraged, enabled or facilitated by school staff could be subject to penalties under the amendment. 

“‘Student walkout’ means an organized effort for students to willfully violate school attendance requirements,” the amendment states. 

The amendment comes at a notable time when various Kansas school districts have recently experienced anti-ICE student protests, at least one of which resulted in violence. 

“The bottom line is we understand we have a right to protest, a right to voice our opinion,” Murphy said. “But when we’re in high school, we’re there to learn.”

The amendment passed the Senate on a 21-18 vote, with the naysayers evenly split at nine Republicans and nine Democrats. 

One argument against the amendment is that it pertains only to public schools, so private schools could still hypothetically host student walkouts without following the drafted guidelines. 

“And that means if you’re wealthy enough to pay tuition for your teenager, your student is protected by the First Amendment,” journalist Dave Helling writes. “If you send your child to public school, on the other hand, he or she is out of luck. …

“Student protesters learn more about the First Amendment by protesting than they would ever learn in class,” Helling argues. “Call them citizenship interns.”

In truth, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled students have First Amendment rights in school, but they can’t interfere with the school’s function or disrupt learning. 

“This is not a matter of free speech,” Sen. Beverly Gossage, R-Eudora said. “You have your right to speech, your right to assemble — not during the school day. School gets out really early. You have plenty of time to do something like this after school no matter what it is they are protesting.”

Under the Senate’s amendment, for each school day a school district experiences a student walkout, it could face a fine “equal to the contract base salary of the superintendent of such school district.” Kansas superintendent salaries range from “$118,000 to $146,000 per year, but some exceeded $200,000 annually,” the Kansas Reflector reports. 

In addition, each day a “school district experiences such student walkout shall not be counted as an instructional school day for purposes of the school term.”

Any money from the fines would go to the state’s general fund. The Kansas Board of Education would be responsible for investigating complaints and determining if a school should be penalized.