BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 891

By: Nelson

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Texas has the sixth-highest percentage of obese and overweight children ages 10 to 17 in the country, and 40 percent of Texas children are overweight or obese, compared to the national average of 16 percent. Current statute requires that school curriculum include physical education but does not include a specific definition of physical education. This bill creates a consistent standard of physical education curriculum across the state and ensures that physical education curriculum is sequential and built upon from one year to the next.

S.B. 891 creates a standard definition of physical education that applies to all public school physical education curriculum and addresses student-to-teacher ratios in physical education classes.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 891 amends the Education Code to require that the mandatory physical education curriculum be sequential, developmentally appropriate, and designed, implemented, and evaluated to enable students to develop the motor, self-management, and other skills, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence necessary to participate in physical activity throughout life. The bill requires the State Board of Education, in identifying the essential knowledge and skills of physical education, to ensure that the curriculum:

· emphasizes the knowledge and skills capable of being used during a lifetime of regular physical activity;

· is consistent with national physical education standards for the information that students should learn about physical activity and the physical activities that students should be able to perform;

· requires that, on a weekly basis, at least 50 percent of the physical education class be used for actual student physical activity and that the activity be, to the extent practicable, at a moderate or vigorous level;

· offers students an opportunity to choose among many types of physical activity in which to participate;

· offers students both cooperative and competitive games;

· meets the needs of students of all physical ability levels, including students who have a disability, chronic health problem, or other special need that precludes the student from participating in regular physical education instruction but who might be able to participate in physical education that is suitably adapted and, if applicable, included in the student's individualized education program;

· takes into account the effect that gender and cultural differences might have on the degree of student interest in physical activity or on the types of physical activity in which a student is interested;

· teaches self-management and movement skills;

· teaches cooperation, fair play, and responsible participation in physical activity;

· promotes student participation in physical activity outside of school; and

· allows physical education classes to be an enjoyable experience for students.

S.B. 891 requires each school district, in implementing the required physical education curriculum, to establish specific objectives and goals the district intends to accomplish through the curriculum, including, to the extent practicable, student/teacher ratios that are small enough to enable the district to carry out the purposes of and requirements for the physical education curriculum as provided above and to ensure the safety of students participating in physical education.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.