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EDITORIAL: Play Ball!: State Schools Still Struggle With Physical Education Programs.

Posted on: Sunday, 18 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Jun. 18--Physical education was once so commonplace in elementary schools that no one had to mandate it. Students and teachers looked forward to a period when they could get outside to play some organized basketball, baseball or tetherball -- remember tetherball? -- and burn off excess energy.

Over the years, physical education has fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons, including the funding squeeze that Proposition 13 imposed on schools. As a result, the Legislature has resorted to a mandate. Elementary schools are required to provide an average of 20 minutes of P.E. per day. Yet according to a recent report, many are not meeting that meager requirement.

The California Center for Public Health Advocacy, a Davis-based nonprofit group, examined the compliance records filed by school districts with the state Department of Education. The records show that 37 of 73 districts surveyed by the state failed to meet the P.E. requirement over the last two years.

Valley school districts were not included in the survey, but the California Department of Education published a study of student fitness in the state's public schools back in November. The news was not good.

The Fresno Unified School District's showing was particularly poor. Fewer than 15% of Fresno Unified fifth-grade students met the state's minimal fitness standards, compared with 37% in Central Unified, 26% in Visalia Unified and 25% statewide.

Lack of physical education is hardly the only reason that one third of California's children are struggling with obesity and related diseases. Many parents are sharing their high-fat, high-sugar diets with kids. Access to after-school programs is also a factor. Wealthy parents can transport their children to far-flung soccer and baseball games, but less well-off families often cannot.

In this year's budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed $85 million in ongoing funds for physical education. His goal is admirable. Yet many Democrats and the state's Legislative Analyst have questioned the governor's plan to spend an influx of apparent one-time revenues on ongoing programs, such as P.E. in schools. They make a strong point.

Frankly, we are not convinced that an ongoing $85 million investment is necessary for schools to meet and exceed the state's P.E. requirement. While some money may be needed to train elementary teachers, they don't need to have doctorates in nutrition and physiology. They just need to get the kids excited about physical activity.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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