As students return from summer break, Kansas school districts are still figuring out how to comply with a new law that requires certain classes to show a three-minute video of human development in the womb.
The Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature passed the law last session by overriding a veto from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. It took effect on July 1.
The video can be of a high-definition ultrasound or a “high-quality, computer-generated animation.” It must show the development of the brain, heart and other vital organs in any class that covers human growth, human development or human sexuality.
Debate on the bill drew testimony from anti-abortion groups, who said it addresses a major gap in scientific curriculum, and reproductive rights advocates, who said the law sets no minimum standard for the scientific accuracy of the videos.
The new policy also comes at a time when conservative state lawmakers continue efforts to restrict abortion access despite Kansas voters in 2022 overwhelmingly voting to preserve the right to the procedure in the state constitution.
The relevant text of the law is just 62 words long, leaving questions about how schools can comply with the requirement.
The legislation does not specify which grade levels should watch the video, nor does it grant the Kansas State Board of Education the authority to guide schools through implementation.
“You have now truly left 286 school districts to have to come up with 286 policies, procedures, curriculum (and a) video, and it just opens up a wide variety of interpretations,” said Kansas education commissioner Randy Watson at a June board meeting.
Frank Harwood, deputy commissioner for the state education department, said at the same meeting that the law’s vagueness invites room for legal disputes over how a local school district should implement it.
“Districts could find themselves in lawsuits no matter what they do,” he said.
A piecemeal approach
Without oversight from the board of education, some school districts have sought guidance from the Kansas State Department of Education.
Deputy Commissioner Renee Nugent of the KSDE has advised school districts to source fetal development videos from national health organizations and medical or scientific publishers.
She said schools should follow their normal procedures for notifying families of the change and allowing parents to opt their child in or out of the material.
But Nugent said KSDE will not tell districts which videos to show, which grades to include or which classes need to show it.
“The law is pretty broad and I wouldn't want to be responsible for giving school districts something that the law didn't intend,” she said.
One of the organizations that lobbied in favor of the bill was Kansans for Life, an advocacy group that opposes abortion.
In testimony and presentations to the state board of education, KFL proposed using a video from the Endowment for Human Development, a nonprofit that says it does not take positions on “controversial bioethical issues.”
Representatives for the Shawnee Mission School District and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools told the Kansas News Service they are still in the planning phase. SMSD expects to have a policy at the end of the month — after students have already started classes.
Olathe Public Schools declined to comment. The Blue Valley and Topeka school districts did not respond to questions about how they plan to integrate the new requirements into their classes.
Holly Ingram, an assistant superintendent for Wichita Public Schools, said in an interview that her district has been working on a plan for months.
Unlike some smaller districts, Ingram said WPS has an established process for introducing new material on human growth and development that involves a committee and dedicated curriculum specialists.
“If we did not have that policy, I think this would be much harder for us,” she said.
To ensure the curriculum satisfies the new state law, WPS decided to have its strategic communications department create its own fetal development video. Ingram said a committee with medical professionals will review the material in September.
After that, the district plans to notify parents of the change and give them the option to opt their children out of the video.
“This (requirement) is not a heavy lift for us,” Ingram said. “But I do see how it could be in other areas of the state.”
‘Political angst’
Kelly called the legislation “convoluted, manipulative, and wrong” when she vetoed it. She suggested the purpose of the law is to push a pro-life agenda in schools without setting standards for scientific accuracy.
And crafting curriculum is the purview of local and state school boards, she said — not the Legislature.
At a June meeting, some board of education members echoed those frustrations. But Republican Dennis Hershberger said the law was first and foremost about scientific education, even though the bill drew testimony from supporters of abortion rights and abortion opponents.
“There's a certain amount of political angst we need to get beyond,” he said.
And while some critics of the law called it vague, others said it left more power to individual school districts to make their own curriculum decisions. Ingram at WPS said the law may have been more difficult to implement if the requirements had been more stringent.
Debbie Potter, a Republican on the state board of education, agreed.
“It's up to parents, really, and the local school boards,” she said. “I like that.”
Zane Irwin reports on politics, campaigns and elections for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at zaneirwin@kcur.org.
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