Kansas governor nixes bill requiring high schoolers to pass citizenship test

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly killed legislation that would have required Kansas students to pass an American citizenship test to graduate high school after the Legislature adjourned for the year, giving lawmakers no opportunity to override her veto. She appears here on March 31, 2026, at an event at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — Kansas legislators were unsuccessful in their attempt to mandate high school students pass an American citizenship test to graduate.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill on Thursday that also would have required students to receive instruction on communist, fascist and socialist regimes.

Kelly said in a statement she supported the idea of civics education, but the Legislature wasn’t the right body to dictate it. She said she agrees with lawmakers “who believe that citizen knowledge of and involvement in our democratic process at the local, state and federal level should be emphasized throughout our children’s educational journey.”

“That knowledge would include an understanding that, in Kansas, the Kansas Board of Education is accorded constitutional authority to determine curricula,” she said.

The Senate passed House Bill 2412 in late March and the House passed it during the Legislature’s veto session on April 9 and 10 before adjourning for the year, so neither chamber will have the opportunity to override the governor’s veto.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement the bill set “a simple expectation” that students should graduate with knowledge of “the foundational ideas of this great nation and why we fight to preserve them.”

“This bill draws a clear line between the ideals our country was founded on and the regimes that have oppressed and killed millions around the world, and quite frankly, it’s mind-boggling to me how Gov. Kelly could possibly oppose this,” he said.

The bill would have required high schoolers to answer correctly at least 70% of a 20-question exam based on the civics test taken by prospective U.S. citizens during the naturalization process. A previous version of the bill proposed a 100-question test with a passing score of  80% or higher.It would have been part of state-mandated American history and civics classes and a prerequisite for earning a diploma.

It directed the state education board to create curricula to teach K-12 public school students about the “negative impacts of communist and socialist regimes and ideologies.” Fascism was added as a component during the legislative process. 

Hawkins said the governor’s veto “​​ignores the importance of teaching students about the real-world consequences of totalitarian ideologies that stand in direct opposition to American values.”

The state board already recommends instruction on communism and socialism in history and social studies classes. 

The bill was backed by a conservative think tank, the Cicero Institute.