A new national study conducted by UT-Austin’s Paul von Hippel and the University of Iowa’s David Frisvold found that many schools failed to comply with the P.E. time requirements. The researchers found that between 1998 and 2016, 24 states and the District of Columbia passed laws to increase the time children spend in P.E. class or school-based physical activity, but the laws did not curb childhood obesity rates. But, even if schools implemented their P.E. requirement time down to the millisecond, the researchers suspect it wouldn’t make much difference. “I’m skeptical that even a high implementation of this [policy] would have had much effect on obesity and overweight because those conditions have mostly to do with [diet], with physical activity playing a pretty limited role,” Von Hippel said. Kids typically eat about 20% or less of their daily calories in school, he said, “so even though P.E. requirements aren’t being met, most of the causes of obesity are outside of school walls.” Von Hippel argues that effective policy to help kids maintain normal weights will need to include diet in and outside of school.
In Texas, childhood obesity is a worsening problem. In the 2019-20 school year, more than 22% of second graders experienced obesity, and the percentage was higher for fourth, eigth and 11th graders, per results from a UT Health survey. At Austin ISD during the 2020-21 school year, P.E. teachers tested more than 11,700 elementary and middle school student’s Body Mass Indexes. About 48% of students didn’t meet BMI standards and more than 30% were labeled high risk.
UT Health’s Deanna Hoelscher said that Texas isn’t doing nearly enough to address childhood obesity. “I think schools want to do the right thing, but they’ve been strapped, so something like physical education falls to the wayside,” she said. At the same time, “children need adequate sleep, healthy food, and safe places to play.”
AISD Director of Health and Physical Education Pat Werner said when it comes to reducing childhood obesity, the role of P.E. teachers is to keep kids active at school and teach them how to move their body and why it’s important to do so. “It’s unfair to task this to any one individual,” Werner said. “The health of our children is all of our responsibilities and we’re working together to ensure the best of the child.”
Werner confirmed that AISD complies with the law’s P.E. time requirement and FitnessGram assessments, but the district is also currently redefining its “coordinated school health program” to give campuses freedom in allocating physical activity time since many P.E. class sizes are too big.
This article appears in May 12 • 2023.