Fewer than 10% of schools now offer daily physical education. It’s being eliminated to save money. (U.S. News & World Report, August 19, 2002)

P.E.'s disappearance is blamed on:

	Too few hours in the school day (often lost to chorus, band or computer classes)
	Pressure to improve scores (failing to recognize the connection between fit bodies and mental acuity)
	Lack of training standards for P.E. instructors
	Lack of facilities
	No provision for fitness testing, standards

The Chrysler Fund Amateur Athletic Union tested youth fitness and found that among 9.7 million 6- to 17-year olds, kids are getting weaker overall and slower on endurance runs. There has been a 10% drop in distance run scores and an 11% decrease in “satisfactory” ratings on the entire test. (Source: Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., author of Food Fight and Director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders)

Daily participation in high school PE class dropped from 42% in 1991 to 27% in 1997. 

Where physical education remains, the average student aerobically exercises for 3.5 minutes. In fact, much of the time, they’re not moving.

But kids who aren’t active are fidgety and unfocused, which, teachers know, affects learning.

Our Sedentary State

Oklahoma is the third most sedentary state in the U.S.

Oklahoma is one of three in the nation with no requirement regarding how much time students spend in gym class (school districts decide). Colorado and South Dakota are the other two.

In Other States

After being phased out in 1995, Texas reestablished physical education requirement for elementary students: a minimum of 135 minutes per week (2 hours 15 minutes) in 2002, because they could see the impact of its elimination.

Georgia’s school reform bill in 2000 eliminated mandatory physical education in grades 6-8, requiring physical education for only K-5th grade. The reason was the addition of 30 more minutes of academic courses to the curriculum.