II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1159

To provide grants and contracts to local educational agencies to initiate,

expand, and improve physical education programs for all kindergarten

through 12th grade students.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 27, 1999

Mr. STEVENS (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. HAGEL, Mr.

BINGAMAN, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DODD, and Mr. THURMOND)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide grants and contracts to local educational agencies

to initiate, expand, and improve physical education programs for all kindergarten through 12th grade students.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR PROGRESS.

4 Title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education

5 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8001 et seq.) is amended by add6 ing at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘PART M—PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR PROGRESS

2 ‘‘SEC. 10999A. SHORT TITLE.

3 ‘‘This part may be cited as the ‘Physical Education

4 for Progress Act’.

5 ‘‘SEC. 10999B. PURPOSE.

6 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to provide grants and

7 contracts to local educational agencies to enable the local

8 educational agencies to initiate, expand and improve phys9 ical education programs for all kindergarten through 12th

10 grade students.

11 ‘‘SEC. 10999C. FINDINGS.

12 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

13 ‘‘(1) Physical education is essential to the devel14 opment of growing children.

15 ‘‘(2) Physical education helps improve the over16 all health of children by improving their cardio17 vascular endurance, muscular strength and power,

18 and flexibility, and by enhancing weight regulation,

19 bone development, posture, skillful moving, active

20 lifestyle habits, and constructive use of leisure time.

21 ‘‘(3) Physical education helps improve the self

22 esteem, interpersonal relationships, responsible be23 havior, and independence of children.

24 ‘‘(4) Children who participate in high quality

25 daily physical education programs tend to be more

26 healthy and physically fit.
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1 ‘‘(5) The percentage of young people who are

2 overweight has more than doubled in the 30 years

3 preceding 1999.

4 ‘‘(6) Low levels of activity contribute to the

5 high prevalence of obesity among children in the

6 United States.

7 ‘‘(7) Obesity related diseases cost the United

8 States economy more than $100,000,000,000 every

9 year.

10 ‘‘(8) Inactivity and poor diet cause at least

11 300,000 deaths a year in the United States.

12 ‘‘(9) Physically fit adults have significantly re13 duced risk factors for heart attacks and stroke.

14 ‘‘(10) Children are not as active as they should

15 be and fewer than 1 in 4 children get 20 minutes

16 of vigorous activity every day of the week.

17 ‘‘(11) The Surgeon General’s 1996 Report on

18 Physical Activity and Health, and the Centers for

19 Disease Control and Prevention, recommend daily

20 physical education for all students in kindergarten

21 through grade 12.

22 ‘‘(12) Twelve years after Congress passed

23 House Concurrent Resolution 97, 100th Congress,

24 agreed to December 11, 1987, encouraging State

25 and local governments and local educational agencies
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1 to provide high quality daily physical education pro2 grams for all children in kindergarten through grade

3 12, little progress has been made.

4 ‘‘(13) Every student in our Nation’s schools,

5 from kindergarten through grade 12, should have

6 the opportunity to participate in quality physical

7 education. It is the unique role of quality physical

8 education programs to develop the health-related fit9 ness, physical competence, and cognitive under10 standing about physical activity for all students so

11 that the students can adopt healthy and physically

12 active lifestyles.

13 ‘‘SEC. 10999D. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

14 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to award grants to, and

15 enter into contracts with, local educational agencies to pay

16 the Federal share of the costs of initiating, expanding, and

17 improving physical education programs for kindergarten

18 through grade 12 students by—

19 ‘‘(1) providing equipment and support to enable

20 students to actively participate in physical education

21 activities;

22 ‘‘(2) developing or enhancing physical education

23 curricula to meet national goals for physical edu24 cation developed by the Secretary in consultation
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1 with the National Association for Sport and Physical

2 Education; and

3 ‘‘(3) providing funds for staff and teacher

4 training and education.

5 ‘‘SEC. 10999E. APPLICATIONS; PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.

6 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—Each local educational agency

7 desiring a grant under this part shall submit to the Sec8 retary an application that contains a plan to initiate, ex9 pand, or improve physical education programs in the

10 schools served by the agency to meet the minimum pro11 gram requirements described in subsection (b).

12 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The program re13 quirements referred to in subsection (a) are as follows:

14 ‘‘(1) Physical education programs shall facili15 tate achievement of the goals for physical education,

16 and the curriculum of the programs shall provide—

17 ‘‘(A) elementary school, middle school, and

18 secondary school students with not less than

19 150 minutes per week of instructional physical

20 education and, if practicable, daily instructional

21 physical education;

22 ‘‘(B) fitness education and assessment to

23 help children understand, improve, or maintain

24 their physical well-being;
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1 ‘‘(C) instruction in a variety of motor skills

2 designed to enhance the physical, mental, and

3 social or emotional development of every child;

4 ‘‘(D) development of cognitive concepts

5 about motor skill and physical fitness that sup6 port a lifelong healthy lifestyle;

7 ‘‘(E) opportunities to develop social and

8 cooperative skills and gain a multicultural per9 spective through physical activity participation;

10 ‘‘(F) involvement for all children in activi11 ties that provide appropriate amounts and

12 kinds of physical activity; and

13 ‘‘(G) instruction in healthy eating habits

14 and good nutrition.

15 ‘‘(2) Teachers of physical education shall have

16 baccalaureate degrees qualifying the teachers as

17 physical education specialists.

18 ‘‘(3) Teachers of physical education shall be af19 forded the opportunity for professional development

20 to stay abreast of the latest research, issues, and

21 trends in the field of physical education.

22 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE.—For the purpose of this part,

23 extracurricular activities such as team sports and Reserve

24 Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program activities shall
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1 not be considered as part of the curriculum of a physical

2 education program assisted under this part.

3 ‘‘SEC. 10999F. PROPORTIONALITY.

4 ‘‘The Secretary shall ensure that grants awarded and

5 contracts entered into under this part shall be equitably

6 distributed between local educational agencies serving

7 urban and rural areas, and between local educational

8 agencies serving large and small numbers of students.

9 ‘‘SEC. 10999G. PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS AND HOME10 SCHOOLED STUDENTS.

11 ‘‘An application for funds under this part, consistent

12 with the number of home-schooled children or children en13 rolled in private elementary schools, middle schools, and

14 secondary schools located in the school district of a local

15 educational agency, may provide for the participation of

16 such children and their teachers in the activities assisted

17 under this part.

18 ‘‘SEC. 10999H. REPORT REQUIRED FOR CONTINUED FUND19 ING.

20 ‘‘As a condition to continue to receive grant or con21 tract funding after the first year of a multiyear grant or

22 contract under this part, the administrator of the grant

23 or contract for the local educational agency shall submit

24 to the Secretary an annual report that describes the activi25 ties conducted during the preceding year and dem-
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1 onstrates that progress has been made toward achieving

2 program requirements described in section 10999E(b).

3 ‘‘SEC. 10999I. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

4 ‘‘The Secretary shall submit a report to Congress not

5 later than June 1, 2003, that describes the programs as6 sisted under this part, documents the success of such pro7 grams in improving physical fitness, and makes such rec8 ommendations as the Secretary determines appropriate for

9 the continuation and improvement of the programs as10 sisted under this part.

11 ‘‘SEC. 10999J. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

12 ‘‘Not more than 7 percent of the grant or contract

13 funds made available to a local educational agency under

14 this part for any fiscal year may be used for administra15 tive costs.

16 ‘‘SEC. 10999K. FEDERAL SHARE; SUPPLEMENT NOT SUP17 PLANT.

18 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share under

19 this part may not exceed—

20 ‘‘(1) 90 percent of the total cost of a project for

21 the first year for which the project receives assist22 ance under this part; and

23 ‘‘(2) 75 percent of such cost for the second and

24 each subsequent such year.
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1 ‘‘(b) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds made

2 available under this part shall be used to supplement and

3 not supplant other Federal, State and local funds available

4 for physical education activities.

5 ‘‘SEC. 10999L. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

6 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated

7 $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, $70,000,000 for fiscal

8 year 2001, and $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years

9 2002 through 2004, to carry out this part. Such funds

10 shall remain available until expended.’’.

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