On January 7th the Kansas Supreme Court left intact a 2020 state statute that limited the Governor’s power to require mask mandates in schools.    The legislature enacted the statute after Governor Laura Kelly issued an emergency executive order mandating that “K-12 public and private schools shall require all students, faculty, staff, vendors and other visitors” to cover their mouth and nose with a mask or other face covering at all times.

In Butler v. Shawnee Mission School District, parents of children in the Shawnee Mission School district challenged the school district’s mask policy under the newly enacted statute.   The Johnson County District Court dismissed the parents’ suit because they did not meet a filing deadline.  The District Court also declared that the statute limiting the Governor’s powers is unconstitutional.  

The Supreme Court agreed that the parents did not meet their filing deadline, but the Supreme Court also said that the lower court improperly declared the statute unconstitutional because it was not necessary to decide whether the statute was constitutional since the case was decided on other grounds. 

The end result of the suit is ambiguity – the constitutionality of the statute limiting the Governor’s powers is uncertain and will be subject to challenges in other litigation.