FCPS Urges Governor To Veto Bill Mandating More PE Classes In Schools

Updated: With Senator Dave Marsden's remarks

The Fairfax County School Board urged Governor McDonnell on Thursday to veto a bill that would mandate 150 minutes of physical education per week for students in grades K-8 by the 2014 academic year.

In a two page-letter to the governor, school board members argued that the bill forces school systems to choose between paying a significant expense to put additional resources towards physical education or reducing time dedicated to teaching core academic subjects.

The Fairfax County Public school system preliminarily estimates that it could cost between $18 and $24 million to pay for additional instructors and supplies, or to pay current teachers more for expanding their duties to include teaching physical education. A previous estimate from the school system put the cost at about $8 million.

The school board argues that the unfunded mandate will further burden schools trying to help all students reach the proficiency in math and reading by 2014, which is required under the No Child Left Behind Act. This is occurring at a time when the House of Delegates have proposed cuts to state funding for public schools.

Additionally, the school board says schools that are struggling to meet the Virginia’s Standards Of Learning goals could use the money to help students with remediation instead.

“The potential loss of instructional time embodied in this mandate would make it more difficult for school divisions to help their students meet these very important requirements,” wrote the school board. 

Senator Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) sponsored the bill, which would also require that school boards establish a plan to implement a “similar program for high school students,” in three years.  

In a discussion on the floor, Senator Northam argued that the bill is “really designed to combat an epidemic that we have in our commonwealth and across the nation, which is childhood obesity.” According to the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, one in five kids aged 10-17 are obese or overweight. 

Elizabeth Payne, the health and physical Education Coordinator at FCPS, said that the main problem for the district is not the implementation at the middle school level. Fairfax middle schools provide physical education during three of the four academic quarters or 27 weeks total.

“A week worth of coursework is about 225 minutes, so when students are in PE for 27 weeks, they’re getting 225 minutes,” she said. “We still exceed the overall requirement when you distribute that throughout all the weeks of the year. It’s definitely elementary school that we will need to fix [to meet the mandate]."

In Fairfax elementary schools, Payne said that the current minimum requirement for physical education classes is 60 minutes a week, but some schools have surpassed that.

The school district has not figured out how to comply with the mandate by the 2014 academic year deadline. Though Payne stressed that the school system will avoid cutting time from core academic subjects to meet the physical education requirement, she said students could lose academic time if no other solution is feasible.

“We’ve thought about the ‘what if [of having to hire new teachers],’ but we haven’t talked exactly about how we’re going to implement this law. We’re going to look at the possibilities and the implications of those decisions,” Payne added.

Delegate Scott Surovell (D-Fairfaix), who voted against the bill, argued on his blog that the bill– and a series of other unfunded education mandates – will only burden school systems already strapped for cash.

“If the state keeps mandating without funding, then Fairfax County will have to choose between higher real estate taxes or deferring the complete implementing full-day kindergarten,” Surovell said. “I voted against $34 million of unfunded mandates for Fairfax County Public Schools. This kind of irresponsible policy-making is not sustainable.”

The final bill is awaiting a signature from Governor Bob McDonnell (R).  A spokesperson for McDonnell said he is still reviewing all of the bills passed by the General Assembly and will "conduct a thorough review" of this one, before making a decision. In the past the Governor has said he supports lowering childhood obesity rates.

What did our officials say?

Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn voted against the measure, along with nearby Delegates Vivian Watts and David Bulova.

Filler-Corn released this statement on the bill: "While I support the intent of this legislation and agree we need to improve student health and reduce childhood obesity, I do not believe we should place such a mandate on our schools. This legislation would require an increase in money, staffing, and physical space. In addition, this would make physical education the only subject with a mandated number of hours. Requiring hours for Physical Education would also reduce classroom time for core subjects including mathematics, science, history, as well as other electives; including the arts. "

Senator Dave Marsden voted for the measure along with Senators Chap Petersen, George Barker, and all but two members in the Virginia Senate.

"The primary reason I voted for this bill is that we need to start looking down the road as to what we’re doing as a country in regards to education," Marsden said. "Getting our kids into good physical shape is critical given the obesity and the adult diabetes that we’re seeing. This whole video game and personal communications device explosion that we're going through is making kids even more sedentary."

Marsden said that the bill is somewhat aspirational, as it would not be implemented until 2014. He said there are ways to meet the goals in the bill through sports and after school activities where kids could get credit.

"We’re hopefully going to accomplish to make this happen without hurting anybody else’s needs for band and fine arts and those things," Marsden said. "We need to spend the next couple years to spend time to make that happen in a way that doesn’t take away from other kid’s interests."