By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Feb. 15
Statewide associations representing teachers and school boards registered their opposition today to proposed physical activity requirements for public school students.
The measure
Senate Bill 281, introduced by Sen. Chris Steineger, D-Kansas City
would require elementary school students to participate in at least 200 minutes of physical activity every two weeks, or about 20 minutes per day. The requirement for middle and high school students would be 400 minutes every two weeks, or 40 minutes per day.
The bill is aimed at addressing childhood obesity, the prevalence of which has tripled since 1980.
“This is an unfunded mandate that we just cannot afford at this time,” said Mark Desetti, a lobbyist for the Kansas National Education Association, which represents teachers across the state.
Desetti said while KNEA supports to goal of the bill and other proposals like it, “You can only ask schools to do so much.”
But state health officials said physical activity and physical education requirements are a key strategy in addressing the obesity problem.
“The school setting, within the context of the community at large, offers perhaps the best chance to influence and instill positive health behaviors early in life,” said Paula Marmet, director of the Office of Health Promotion in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
“Focusing on fitness within the schools also contributes to their primary educational mission,” Marmet said. “Multiple studies have linked being overweight and poor physical activity to academic performance.”
Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, the committee chairwoman, said because the bill would require school districts to make “major changes,” there was virtually no chance the committee would vote this session on whether to recommend it to the full Senate.
“Every minute of the day, down to the second, is scheduled in schools today,” she said.
Kim Kimminau, senior vice president for research and analysis at the Kansas Health Institute, said a
recently completed survey
showed that physical activity and physical education are getting crowded out of the school day because of time devoted to preparing students for required tests. But she said some schools are finding ways to work around the problem.
“We have anecdotal evidence that schools that have decided to step up to the challenge have found ways to do it,” said Kimminau, who briefed the committee on the survey findings but didn”t take a position on the bill.
Steineger said he anticipated that his bill
which is based on a California law
would encounter stiff opposition. But he said he wanted to prompt a more serious conversation about how to address childhood obesity.
“I”m glad we had the hearing and ferreted out the opposition,” Steineger said. “The good news is everyone agrees that addressing the obesity epidemic is a priority.”
Weighing and measuring students
The Senate bill also would require all public school students in grades 4, 7, 9 and 12 to be weighed and measured so that body mass index calculations could be made by state health officials. The height and weight measurements would be passed along to KDHE where individual BMI calculations would be made and entered into a statewide database.
Though it appears Senate Bill 281 won”t advance to a vote this session, the BMI provisions also are included in House Bill 2090, which is expected to be discussed and voted on in the House Education Committee on Friday.
In recent days, the House bill”s sponsor, Rep. Pat Colloton, R-Leawood, has been working with supporters and opponents to fashion a compromise.
Sen. Schodorf said if the House passes a bill that contains only the BMI provision, her committee would consider it.
“That might be more feasible,” she 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.