BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 200
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 200 (Hayashi)
As Amended April 12, 2011
Majority vote
EDUCATION 7-3 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Brownley, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Eng, Williams | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Norby, Halderman, Wagner |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Smyth, Wagner |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Requires the State Board of Education (SBE), to
establish the Health and Fitness Award Program (Award Program)
to provide an award to one school in each legislative district
that conducts their physical education courses pursuant to the
model content standards and demonstrates that increasing numbers
of pupils meet minimum standards on the physical performance
test. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the Excellence in Health and Fitness Act of 2011;
and, requires the SBE to establish the Award Program to
recognize schools that conduct their physical education
courses pursuant to the model content standards and
demonstrate that increasing numbers of pupils meet minimum
standards on the physical performance test designated by the
SBE.
2)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to use
currently collected data to identify one school from each
legislative district in the state to receive recognition,
which may include, but is not limited to, classification as a
distinguished school, being listed on a published public
school honor roll, and public commendations by the Governor
and the Legislature; and, requires that the Legislature, to
the extent funds are available, to recognize the identified
schools.
AB 200
Page 2
3)Specifies that the school in each legislative district with
the highest percentage of pupils who meet the minimum
standards on the physical performance test is eligible to
receive recognition; and, specifies that that SPI may
establish additional criteria if appropriate.
4)Requires private funds to be used to pay for all the costs of
implementing the program, including the administrative costs
of the SBE; authorizes the SPI to receive donations for these
purposes; and, prohibits the SBE from establishing the program
until the Department of Finance certifies to the SPI that
private donations received by the state are sufficient to
implement the program.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, General Fund cost pressure, likely less than
$100,000, to the SPI and the Legislature to recognize school
districts pursuant to the Award program.
COMMENTS : The state's physical fitness test, the FitnessGram,
is administered to students in grades five, seven and nine
annually. It uses objective criteria and standards to evaluate
fitness performance and is designed to test six key fitness
areas that represent three broad components of fitness: aerobic
capacity; body composition and muscle strength; and, endurance
and flexibility.
According to California Department of Education, a total of
1,380,000 students enrolled in grades five, seven, and nine were
administered the California Physical Fitness Test (PFT) in 2009.
In 2009, 29% of students in fifth grade achieved the fitness
standards in all six areas, while 34% of students in seventh
grade achieved the fitness standards in all six areas and nearly
38% of students in ninth grade achieved the same standards.
This means that, on average, more than 65% of public school
students did not meet the state fitness standards in all six
fitness areas.
According to the author, this bill is modeled after the
Governor's Performance Award (GPA) program. The GPA program was
established in 1999 and required the SBE to establish a program
to provide monetary and non-monetary awards to schools that met
or exceeded Academic Performance Index (API) growth targets in
AB 200
Page 3
math and English. The GPA program was established as part of
the Public School Performance and Accountability Program which
created the state API, the Immediate
Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP), and a
Governor's High Achieving/Improving Schools Program.
According to the author, only 30% of children and 15% of teens
get the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
This deficiency appears to be the result of numerous factors,
including inadequate monitoring of physical education programs,
lack of consistency across program, and disparities among
schools. Adequate physical activity is not only essential for a
child's health, but it is also critical for the child's ability
to learn. Compared to less active children, physically active
children perform better academically, have better classroom
behavior and attendance, have better psychological well-being,
make fewer risky choices, and are at a decreased risk for a host
of chronic conditions, including diabetes and obesity.
Previous legislation. AB 2072 (Hayashi) of 2008, which was held
on the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file, was
substantially similar to the introduced version of this bill.
AB 2072 established the Physical Education Award (PEA)
Program for the purposes of recognizing schools that conduct
physical education courses pursuant to model content standards
and demonstrate that an increasing numbers of pupils pass
specified minimum standards.
AB 2812 (Umberg) of 2006, which failed passage in the Assembly,
would have established the Excellence in Physical Education Act
of 2006, which required the SBE to establish a PEA Program to
provide monetary and non-monetary awards to schools that conduct
their physical education courses pursuant to the model content
standards and demonstrate that increasing numbers of pupils
enrolled in that school meet minimum standards on the physical
performance test. AB 2812 would have also given monetary
incentives to II/USP schools and budget flexibility to schools
in the High Priority Schools Grant Program.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0000742
AB 200
Page 4