By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 29
They may not be as bold as some of their counterparts across the country, but Kansas policymakers are stepping up to the mounting problem of childhood obesity.
Evidence of the Legislature”s desire to address the problem includes a proposal requiring that schools administer student fitness tests and collect body mass index data. It has the backing of the Republican leadership in the House. And, Statehouse sources say, a bill may soon be introduced to require physical education in middle schools and high schools.
On the nutrition front, Senate Bill 170, a proposal to limit the kind of vending machine beverages that can be sold in elementary and middle schools, awaits hearing in the Senate Education Committee. The House Education Committee has introduced a stronger bill.
House Bill 2275
would require schools to turn off their vending machines during the school day. Machines that only dispense water would be excluded from the “shut down” requirement.
BMI bill
The measure requiring public schools to administer fitness tests that include weighing and measuring students so that
body mass index (BMI)
calculations can be made by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is being pushed by Rep. Pat Colloton, R-Leawood.
“We know we”ve got a problem,” Colloton said, referring to national data on the rising number of children who are either overweight or at risk of being overweight.
According to the Institute of Medicine, the national rate of childhood obesity has more than tripled over the last 30 years for children 6 to 11 years old and doubled for adolescents aged 12 to 19.
Though it”s reasonable to assume that the trend is similar in Kansas, the state, unlike other states, doesn”t collect the data necessary to know the exact dimension of the problem. Beyond the numbers there are other questions, including whether the childhood obesity problem is worse in urban or rural areas of the state.
Colloton”s proposal, HB 2090, would provide answers to those questions. Schools would weigh and measure students and send the data to the Kansas State Department of Education, which, in turn, would share it with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. At least in the beginning, the information wouldn”t be shared with parents, as it is in several other states.
Once the data is gathered and analyzed, Colloton said she hopes state policymakers will be ready to consider a next step. One option, she said, might be requiring Kansas middle and high school students to take physical education. Currently, high school students must complete just one unit of physical education to graduate.
Colloton said she initially wanted to introduce a bill imposing a physical education requirement, but thought that a step-by-step process that started with gathering data would fare better politically.
“We don”t want to do a broad-brush statewide mandate,” she said. “That”s not the way we do things in Kansas.”
The data gathering process outlined in the bill would require schools to also report the number of certified physical education teachers they employ and the amount of time those teachers spend actually teaching PE. That information, Colloton said, would be helpful later in determining whether schools have the capacity to implement a requirement to provide students with a certain amount of physical education per week.
Dale Dennis, the state”s acting commissioner of education, said Colloton”s data-first approach will make it easier to craft a policy school officials can support.
“It will tell us where we are,” Dennis said. “I think that”s a good way to start.”
Kim Kimminau, senior vice president for research and analysis at the Kansas Health Institute, said the organization doesn”t take positions on specific legislation. But she said gathering the information called for in Colloton”s bill would represent progress in the battle against childhood obesity.
“It would be a huge, if incremental step forward,” Kimminau said. “It”s a step toward a data-driven decision.”
Kimminau recently was the lead author of a comprehensive report on the nutrition and physical activity policies of Kansas public schools.
Commissioned by the Sunflower Foundation, the report
“Kansas Public School Health: Nutrition, Physical Education and Physical Activity Policies and Practices” (.pdf, 2.25 MB
)
provides information on everything from school lunchroom operations to the impact of new testing requirements on recess time and the extent to which school officials believe they should play a role in addressing the childhood obesity problem.
Among its key findings are:
*
More than 80 percent of public school and school-district staffs favor collecting BMI data and sending it to parents to alert them to overweight and underweight children.
*
Most Kansas K-12 public school officials recognize they should play a role in combating childhood obesity, but they believe any successful strategy must also involve parents, government and the media.
*
A drop-off in physical education requirements during middle and high school corresponds with a dramatic increase in student exposure to vending machine items and a la carte foods.
*
Approximately one-quarter of responding elementary schools have reduced recess time within the past three years to devote more time to preparing students for required state tests, including those required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
*
Physical education professionals and administrators say a lack of class time, staff cutbacks and inadequate facilities are hindering their ability to address the obesity problem.
Vending machines
The KHI study also revealed that 58 percent of K-12 public school students have access to vending machines during the school day. Once students reach high school, the survey shows, 90 percent have access to vended foods and beverages. That dramatic increase in access corresponds with a drop-off in physical education requirements in middle school and high school, the survey showed.
Not everyone is convinced that vending machines play a significant role in the childhood obesity problem, despite the fact that some of the foods and beverages dispensed are high in calories and sugar but low in nutritional value.
“We feel like it is less the food and beverage consumption than it is the lack of physical activity,” said Ron Hein, executive director of the Kansas Beverage Association, which represents all of the major soft-drink distributors in the state.
But Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children, said he has little doubt that vending machines are a part of the problem. So, KAC is backing House Bill 2275,
which would require administrators to “shut down” vending machines during school hours.
“Schools should be required to provide an environment that contributes to the health of children,” Brunk said.
A bill awaiting a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, SB 170, wouldn”t go as far as the anticipated KAC proposal. Rather, it would limit vending machine beverages sold in elementary schools to water, milk and certain kinds of fruit and vegetable drinks. The measure would impose similar limitations on beverages sold in middle school with the addition of certain kinds of sports drinks.
Hein said his association opposed any measure that would limit vending machine beverages beyond voluntary guidelines announced last year by the American Beverage Association.
“It still comes down to local control,” he said.
Brunk said he is “realistic” about the KAC proposal”s chances given that he expects opposition not only from the beverage industry but also some school administrators.
Still, he said, “I hope that it would be the rare school administrator who didn”t think this issue had to be dealt with at least on some level.”
The KHI survey indicates that most of the money collected from vending machine sales in schools is used for sports teams or clubs to pay for such things as travel and uniforms. Vending machine revenue also is used for student incentives including, proms, parties and other special events.
The KHI report also points out that foods and beverages sold in vending machines competes with the balanced lunch that schools are required to provide students.
“Our proposal wouldn”t eliminate that competition, but it would reduce it,” Brunk said.
Jim McLean is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
jmclean@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 110.