Prohibiting a school from excluding a child who has been exposed to an infectious or contagious disease without an isolation or quarantine order.

SB 172 prevents Kansas schools and child care facilities from excluding students who have been exposed to infectious diseases (like measles or flu) unless a local health official issues a formal isolation or quarantine order. It directly affects children and families by ensuring schools cannot bar students based solely on potential exposure without official health authority approval. The bill requires health departments to issue such orders for any exclusion, and specifies that any exclusion must last no longer than the order’s duration. This replaces the previous rule allowing schools to exclude students based on suspected exposure without health department involvement.