Signed into law by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly in March 2026, House Bill 2299 introduces new legal standards for how Kansas school employees communicate with students. This new legislation requires that each school district or nonpublic school adopt policies that prohibit each employee from "privately or directly communicating with any student through social media platforms." This represents a significant step toward regulating how educators interact with students in digital spaces.

While it may feel like another compliance hurdle for districts, HB2299 is indicative of a growing trend among states to clarify expectations for how schools manage student communications and the evolving expectations of families. In fact, other states like Oklahoma and Ohio have adopted or are considering adopting similar legislation.

Luckily, solutions like Apptegy's communication platform already include many of the features that align with the types of safeguards now required by laws like HB2299—supporting districts' compliance efforts and making it easier for districts to adapt without overhauling their communication tools.

In addition to a district-branded channel, Apptegy offers industry-leading safeguards through AI Message Moderation that protect your school community and your district’s reputation by automatically flagging potential risks and blocking harmful messages. Attempts to move a conversation from a district-approved channel to a 3rd-party platform are not sent and reported to administration with no manual action needed

Message Moderation gives your district a proactive tool to help:

• Reduce risks to brand reputation

• Respond quickly to issues before they escalate

• Promote a culture of trust, safety and transparency

Why Now? The Push for Transparency

The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support, addresses growing concerns about boundary violations in student-teacher relationships and responds to parents’ desires for more safety in their children's school interactions. Parents increasingly want to know who's communicating with their children and what's being said. This law creates guardrails that protect students while respecting teachers' need to effectively communicate.

While districts may allow each principal to designate their own traceable communication platform, this approach risks creating a fragmented experience for families. Parents with children in multiple schools would have to remember and juggle three or four different apps, from different vendors, each with separate logins, interfaces and notification systems. This law actually presents district leadership with a golden opportunity to standardize communications across all schools and center it on your district, not a social media platform.

By implementing a unified district-wide solution with Apptegy, superintendents can help enhance compliance efforts while also scoring a strategic win. Parents benefit from a single, consistent experience regardless of how many schools their children attend. Teachers and staff need to learn only one system. And perhaps most importantly, the district maintains consistent branding and messaging across all its communications, seizing the moment to create communication coherence that benefits everyone in your educational community.

While working to address HB 2299 is likely districts’ most immediate concern, Apptegy also offers strategic benefits that extend far beyond the focus on controlled communications:

• Unified District Branding: All communications happen within your district-branded app.

• Simplified Parent Experience: Families access all school communications in one place.

• Real-Time Analytics: Administrators can review and gain insights into communication patterns and engagement.

• Cross-Platform Integration: Messages can be shared across email, text, app notifications and the district website simultaneously.