Kansas governor vetoes recess bill
HB 2763 would have guaranteed 30 minutes of daily recess for elementary students and passed both chambers with bipartisan majorities. Governor Laura Kelly vetoed it.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) has vetoed HB 2763, a bill that would have required elementary schools to provide at least 30 minutes of daily recess and prohibited schools from withholding recess as punishment. The bill would also have restored the annual Presidential Fitness Test for students in grades 1–12. The legislation, introduced by the Kansas House Committee on Health and Human Services, passed both chambers with bipartisan support, including a 74–47 vote in the House and a 29–11 vote in the Senate.
Earlier in the spring, End Chronic Disease’s Kara Jones spent several days on the ground in Kansas meeting with legislators across both chambers to discuss the importance of school-based policies like daily recess in supporting children’s health. Those conversations helped ensure that key measures promoting physical activity and student health successfully advanced through the session, despite broader controversy surrounding other health-focused bills such as school lunch reform.
Following Governor Kelly’s veto, Kelly McKenna joined Katie Byrd on Kansas City’s KCTV 5 News to discuss the bill as well as the broader importance of recess in protecting and supporting children’s long-term health.
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This update first appeared in the End Chronic Disease newsletter on May 25, 2026. Reporting: Kansas Reflector. Kara Jones later wrote about the episode in The 74.
