by Sydney Henry ’20

“Obesity leads to at least 300,000 deaths among adults in the United States each year due in part to physical inactivity and a poor diet; and inadequate participation in physical activity is a significant contributor to the “epidemic of obesity” that has plagued the nation’s young people during the past 2 decades.”

This is what it reads in the Preamble of the Student Health and Fitness Act (SHFA), a bill proposed by Prince George’s County Delegate Jay Walker. The proposed bill,  which was originally created in 2010, in hopes of increasing the required amount of physical activity in Elementary Schools from 30 to 60 minutes of PE a week, to around 90 minutes a week. Parents backing this bill say that the reason for adolescent obesity is not the children’s fault, it’s the school systems’ fault for not providing them with the proper amount of physical activity.

However, MCPS officials aren’t happy with the expansion idea, according to WTOP News. In a written testimony submitted to the Ways and Means committee  reviewing the bill, the Montgomery County School Board says, “Scheduling increased time for physical education into the instructional day is difficult during a period of fiscal constraints and the decision should be left up to local jurisdictions.” WTOP reports that an estimated 133 additional physical education teachers, costing around 11 million dollars, would have to be hired in MCPS to support the new bill.