Kansas Youth Sports Concussion Law
What Kansas law requires when a young athlete takes a hit to the head — in plain English, with the statute underneath it.
Checked against the official Kansas statutory text on 2 August 2026. Re-verified every year.
What this actually means for your family
The statutory detail is further down, and it is all sourced. But if you are here because your child got hit this week, these are the six things you came to find out.
My child took a hit to the head. Does the coach have to take them out?
Yes. If your child shows signs of a concussion, or is suspected of having one, they have to come out of that practice or game right away. This is the part of the law that is nearly identical everywhere, and it does not require anyone to be certain — a suspicion is enough, and the coach is not supposed to wait for a diagnosis before acting.
Can they go back in the same day?
In practice, no. Kansas law does not use the words 'same day,' but it bars a return until a provider has examined your child and put a clearance in writing. That is not something that realistically happens between the third and fourth quarter, so the effect is the same.
Whose note does the school have to accept?
A physician's — a medical doctor (MD or DO). Kansas is one of a small number of states that will not accept anyone else for this. A note from an athletic trainer, a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant does not satisfy the statute here, even though those clinicians manage concussions competently and can do so in most other states. Worth knowing before you book the appointment.
Is there a minimum number of days out?
Not in the law. This surprises people, but the statute sets no minimum number of days — it just requires a provider to sign off. How long your child sits out is a clinical decision, not a legal one, and a provider who returns a child quickly is not breaking any law. This is the single biggest gap between what these statutes require and what current concussion medicine actually recommends.
Does the school have to help with schoolwork while they recover?
Not as a requirement. Kansas agencies publish return-to-learn guidance, and many schools follow it, but nothing in the law obliges them to. If your child needs reduced screen time, extra time on tests, or a lighter workload, that is a conversation with the school — and if symptoms persist, a 504 plan is the route that does carry legal weight.
What if the team is not run by their school?
No — and this is the gap most parents do not know about. Kansas's law stops at school sports. A club team, a travel team, a church league or a Saturday rec programme is outside it, so the coach who is legally required to bench your child at a school game has no such duty at a club game. Nothing stops a league from having a good policy of its own, and many do. But you have to ask for it rather than assume it, and the time to ask is at registration, not from the sideline.
Read the law itself, in full: K.S.A. 72-7119 (ksrevisor.gov). This is the text a school, a coach or an athletic director is bound by, so it is the page to print or forward if anyone tells you the rule is something other than what you have read here. Where a state's law runs across several sections, the rest of them are in the sources at the foot of this page.
If this happened in the last few days
Rule out the emergencies first.
A concussion is not usually a medical emergency, but a small number of head injuries are. Go to an emergency department now for a headache that keeps getting worse, repeated vomiting, seizures, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, one pupil larger than the other, or a child who cannot be woken or is unusually confused or drowsy. None of this is what the concussion statute is about, and none of it should wait for a clearance appointment.
Get the evaluation booked, and book the right kind.
The clearance your school needs has to come from a provider the law recognizes, and that list is different in every state — it is the third question above. Confirming that before the appointment saves families a wasted visit and a second co-pay more often than you would think.
Write down what happened while it is fresh.
The date and time, what the hit looked like, who saw it, what symptoms appeared and when, and who was told. This helps the clinician far more than a general 'he got hit at practice,' and if there is ever a dispute with the school about what was reported, it is the only contemporaneous record anyone will have.
Finding a provider who can sign it
Knowing what the law requires is one half of it; finding someone who can actually do the evaluation is the other. Our directory lists 60 verified concussion providers in Kansas across 16 cities, and you can filter by the kind of clinician the answer above calls for.
What makes Kansas's law different
Kansas sets one of the narrowest clearance authorities in the country: only a physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery (MD/DO) may clear, so athletic trainers, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants cannot sign an athlete back in. The law is also unusually thin — one section, no coach-training mandate, no graduated return-to-play protocol, no return-to-learn, and no minimum sit-out — and its immunity clause protects the clearing physician rather than the school. The section was moved without substantive change from K.S.A. 72-135 to K.S.A. 72-7119 in the recodification of the education code, so older summaries citing 72-135 are citing a transferred number.
| Statute | K.S.A. 72-7119 (originally codified at K.S.A. 72-135; enacted by L. 2011, ch. 114, sec. 17, eff. July 1, 2011) |
|---|---|
| Also known as | School Sports Head Injury Prevention Act |
| Enacted | 2011 |
| Who may clear a return to play | Physician only |
| Return-to-learn protocol required | Guidance only |
| Covers non-school club and rec leagues | No — school sports only |
The statute in detail
Everything above is the short version. This is what the law actually says, section by section, for anyone who needs the precise wording — a school administrator writing policy, a coach checking a duty, or a family that has hit a disagreement with a district.
Who the law covers
Applies to school athletes at any public or accredited private high school, middle school, or junior high school in Kansas. It does not reach elementary schools, community recreation leagues, or private club sports.
Education and acknowledgment
The State Board of Education, in cooperation with the Kansas State High School Activities Association, must compile information on the nature and risk of concussion and head injury and provide it to districts for coaches, athletes, and parents. Each school athlete and the athlete's parent or guardian must sign and return a concussion and head injury information release form annually before participation. The statute imposes no separate coach-training mandate.
Kansas Return-to-Play Law: Removal From Play
If a school athlete suffers, or is suspected of having suffered, a concussion or head injury during a sport competition or practice session, the athlete must immediately be removed from that competition or practice. The statute does not name who makes the removal call, so in practice any coach or official may act on suspicion.
Kansas Return-to-Play Law: Getting Cleared to Return
The athlete may not return to competition or practice until evaluated by a 'health care provider' and given written clearance by that provider to return to play or practice. There is no minimum mandatory sit-out period and no graduated return-to-play protocol in the statute.
Who the law lets sign the clearance
- a person licensed by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts to practice medicine and surgery (MD or DO)
Return to learn
Not addressed in the statute. KSHSAA publishes separate non-statutory Return to Learn guidance and the Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership distributes a 'Classroom Rx' academic-accommodation form, but neither is a legal mandate.
What happens if the rules are not followed
This is the part families ask about most and the part these statutes handle least. Almost every one of these laws sets out duties without setting out a penalty for ignoring them, and most go further and grant the school and its staff protection from being sued over concussion decisions. What that protection covers, and where it stops, is a state-specific question:
A health care provider who is not employed by the school district and who issues the return-to-play clearance is immune from civil damages for acts or omissions in rendering that care, except for gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
Two things are worth being clear about. Immunity clauses of this kind generally stop short of conduct that is willful or reckless, so they are not unconditional. And a school district's or athletic association's own rules sit on top of the statute and can be enforced through the school or the association even where the law provides no remedy — that route is often faster than any legal one. If you believe the rules were not followed and your child was harmed as a result, that is a question for an attorney licensed in your state. It is not something this page can answer, and it is not something a directory should pretend to.
Common questions
Whose note does a school have to accept to clear a concussion in Kansas?
A physician's — a medical doctor (MD or DO). Kansas is one of a small number of states that will not accept anyone else for this. A note from an athletic trainer, a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant does not satisfy the statute here, even though those clinicians manage concussions competently and can do so in most other states. Worth knowing before you book the appointment.
Can a student go back in the same day after a head injury in Kansas?
In practice, no. Kansas law does not use the words 'same day,' but it bars a return until a provider has examined your child and put a clearance in writing. That is not something that realistically happens between the third and fourth quarter, so the effect is the same.
How long does a student have to sit out after a concussion in Kansas?
Not in the law. This surprises people, but the statute sets no minimum number of days — it just requires a provider to sign off. How long your child sits out is a clinical decision, not a legal one, and a provider who returns a child quickly is not breaking any law. This is the single biggest gap between what these statutes require and what current concussion medicine actually recommends.
Does Kansas require schools to help with schoolwork after a concussion?
Not as a requirement. Kansas agencies publish return-to-learn guidance, and many schools follow it, but nothing in the law obliges them to. If your child needs reduced screen time, extra time on tests, or a lighter workload, that is a conversation with the school — and if symptoms persist, a 504 plan is the route that does carry legal weight.
Does Kansas's concussion law apply to club and rec league sports?
No — and this is the gap most parents do not know about. Kansas's law stops at school sports. A club team, a travel team, a church league or a Saturday rec programme is outside it, so the coach who is legally required to bench your child at a school game has no such duty at a club game. Nothing stops a league from having a good policy of its own, and many do. But you have to ask for it rather than assume it, and the time to ask is at registration, not from the sideline.
When did Kansas pass its youth concussion law?
2011. The statute is K.S.A. 72-7119 (originally codified at K.S.A. 72-135; enacted by L. 2011, ch. 114, sec. 17, eff. July 1, 2011).
How this summary was written
Each summary was built from the statutory text and, where the statute delegates, the state rule or athletic association policy it delegates to. Where a detail could not be traced to a primary source it was left out rather than guessed at, so a section reading “not addressed in the statute” means the law is silent — not that nothing applies.
Not legal advice. This is a plain-language summary of a statute, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the law or asking a lawyer about a specific situation. Statutes are amended; school district and athletic association rules sit on top of them and are often stricter. Every source used for this page is linked below so you can check it against the text.
Sources
What the law does not tell you
A statute sets the minimum a school has to do. It does not describe what recovery actually looks like, how long symptoms usually last, or which clinician treats which symptom — and on those questions the clinical consensus has moved a long way ahead of most of this legislation.
- The six-step return-to-play protocol — the graduated progression most of these laws point at without describing.
- Concussion symptoms and red flags — what warrants an emergency room rather than a sideline decision.
- The six stages of recovery — what the progression looks like in practice, and why the two-week figure misleads families.
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Compare with other states
Laws that look identical on paper often differ on the one point that matters to you.