Law encourages schools to add exercise, measure body mass

* Educators succeed in getting physical activity requirements removed from state bill.
By KHALILA PERRIN
Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 10:06 AM EDT
As statistics show the waistlines of American children continuing to bulge, Ohio lawmakers hope educators opt into new measures designed to have a slimming effect beginning next year. Late last month, Gov. Ted Strickland signed the final version of Senate Bill 210 — the Healthy Choices for Healthy Children Act — into law. With it comes new options designed to help school leaders encourage more-healthful lifestyles in the students they educate. Under the new act, the Ohio Department of Education will oversee an optional pilot program that requires K-12 schools to incorporate 30 minutes of physical activity into the school day beyond recess. It’s set to begin with the 2011-12 school year. Districts are not required to opt into the program. In early versions of the bill, districts were mandated to add the 30 minutes of exercise. But lobbyists from organizations including the Ohio Association of School Business Officials balked at the idea of more unfunded state mandates and they lobbied against the requirement. “We agree that physical activity is important to a healthy lifestyle; however, without additional funding, school districts simply cannot afford this mandate,” wrote Barbara Shaner and Jennifer Economus in a March memo to the original bill’s sponsors. Shaner and Economus are the OASBO’s associate director and legislative specialist, respectively. State Rep. John Patrick Carney (D-Columbus) said “the school boards and the teachers unions and others were very concerned about the physical activity portion (of the bill) … without a specific funding mechanism.” Still, Carney said, he was disappointed when the groups succeeded in their push to have the mandate removed from the bill and replaced with the opt-in pilot — especially in light of the statistics that rank Ohio the 15th fattest state, he said. An estimated 26 percent of the state’s adults and 14.2 percent of its children are obese, according to the Ohio State Medical Association’¦ http://www.snponline.com/articles/2010/07/19/gahanna_news/schools/ghallobesi_20100712_0136pm_1.txt