Bill steps up rigorous activity in Physical Education classes

By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
elpasotimes.com

AUSTIN -- Texas students would have to spend more time running, jumping and playing games in their physical education classes under a bill the state House tentatively approved Tuesday.

The measure by state Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, would require students to spend at least half of their time in P.E. classes engaged in moderate or vigorous activities. Schools would have to offer a variety of activities, including competitive games.

The classes also would have to encourage students to make physical activity a lifelong habit.

About 42 percent of Texas fourth-graders are obese, overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, according to a House Research Organization analysis. The bill was meant to help children learn early the

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Don Disney, facilitator for health and physical education in the El Paso Independent School District, said requirements in the bill were based at least partly on fitness programs in the district.

Elementary students in EPISD wear pedometers in their P.E. classes to keep track of their activity levels, he said. And in high schools, students wear heart-rate monitors and try to stay within their rates for 25 minutes.

"It's all about increasing what we call the activity quotient," Disney said.

Rates of obesity and diabetes, Disney said, are problems in particular among Hispanics in border areas such as El Paso.

The fitness bill still faces a final vote in the House. It already
cleared the Senate, but would have to be considered again in that chamber because of modifications by House members. It would then go to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature.