National outrage spread quickly when police raided the press office of the Marion County Record, a small but fiery local newspaper in central Kansas.

Police removed phones and computers in a highly unusual raid on the small newsroom. Immediately dozens of news organizations from across the country came to the Record’s defense. The outrage is merited, but too often the free press rights of students — who are often doing the same work as professional journalists — are trampled with too little angst.

This story and the larger debate over free speech have deep implications for independent journalism and for student journalism as well. The Budget is fortunate to publish in Kansas, where student press freedoms are well-protected. But other student publications around the country are left without those defenses, and their rights to free press are in danger.

The Kansas Student Publications Act protects high school journalists in Kansas public schools from censorship by school administrators. This means that students are free to publish the content they think is important, assuming it’s not “libelous, slanderous, or obscene,” according to the law. This gives us the freedom to do important reporting without the threat of a school administrator controlling what we publish out of fear of politics or controversy.

While noting that student publications may need to be supervised more than professional publications, Washington University law professor Greg P. Magarian says that student journalists should be protected from administrative censorship.

“In my experience and observation, student journalists tend to take their work and responsibilities very seriously,” Magarian said. “Unfortunately, school administrators too often tend to be thin-skinned, self-interested, and/or not very concerned with the positive value that independent student journalism adds to schools.”

Examples of censorship abound. In 2022, the Viking Saga, the student newspaper of Northwest High School in Nebraska, was shut down by their principal for publishing a newspaper discussing Pride month and other LGBTQ+ topics.