Download This Bill in Microsoft Word format
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
S. 500
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Jackson, Leatherman, Anderson, Drummond, Williams, Malloy, Patterson, Ford, Knotts, Short, Mescher, Elliott, Verdin, Leventis, Ritchie, Matthews, Hutto, Richardson, Peeler, Gregory, McGill, Pinckney, Rankin and Lourie
Document Path: l:\council\bills\pt\2370sj05.doc
Companion/Similar bill(s): 3499
Introduced in the Senate on February 17, 2005
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Education
Summary: Physical education and nutritional standards established in school
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2/17/2005 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-1 2/17/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Education SJ-1
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING CHAPTER 10, ENTITLED PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS, TO TITLE 59 SO AS TO ESTABLISH PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTION A STUDENT IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH FIFTH GRADE MUST RECEIVE EACH WEEK ON A PHASED-IN BASIS, PROVIDE FOR A MEASURE OF EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM IN ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PROVIDE FOR A PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITY DIRECTOR, PROVIDE CERTAIN NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, PROVIDE THAT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS SHALL REMOVE CERTAIN FOOD AND DRINKS FROM VENDING MACHINES, PROVIDE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF TIME ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS MUST HAVE TO EAT LUNCH, PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DISTRICT LEVEL AND AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH ADVISORY COUNCIL AND PROVIDE ITS POWERS AND DUTIES, PROVIDE FOR NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION, AND PROVIDE A MEASURE OF EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the Students Health and Fitness Act of 2005.
SECTION 2. Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 59-10-10. (A)(1) Beginning with the 2005-06 school year, students in kindergarten through fifth grade shall participate in a minimum of seventy-five minutes per week of instructional physical education by a certified physical education specialist.
(2) Beginning with the 2006-07 school year, students in kindergarten through fifth grade shall participate in one hundred twenty minutes per week of instructional physical education by a certified physical education specialist.
(3) Beginning with the 2007-08 school year, students in kindergarten through fifth grade shall participate in one hundred fifty minutes per week of instructional physical education by a certified physical education specialist.
(B) The weekly minutes of instructional physical education in subsection (A) must be distributed in a developmentally appropriate manner for each grade level. The student to teacher ratio in a physical education class may not exceed the recommended student to teacher ratio in other academic classes.
(C) Each district shall ensure that the schools in the district have adequate equipment and appropriate facilities to implement the physical education curriculum standards.
Section 59-10-20. Each public school in this State shall determine the degree to which its students in kindergarten through twelfth grade meet the state physical education standards. Samples of student physical education performance at the second grade, fifth grade, eighth grade, and high school level must be reported to the State Department of Education to be used to establish a program effectiveness score for each school. The results must be reported to the school board, school administrators, and teachers and to the State Board of Education. An overall physical education school effectiveness score must be reported to parents or guardians as a part of the school report card. An individual student's fitness status must be reported to his parent or guardian during a student's fifth grade, eighth grade, and high school physical education courses.
Section 59-10-30. A school that does not meet the requirements of Section 59-10-10, will receive professional development opportunities to assist in improving its programs.
Section 59-10-40. Each elementary school shall designate a physical education teacher to be the Physical Education Activity Director of that school. The Physical Education Activity Director shall coordinate opportunities for physical activity for teachers and students above and beyond the allocated instructional time to include, but not be limited to, walking programs, before and after school programs, and working with classroom teachers to design physical activity promotion opportunities.
Section 59-10-50. The physical education standards established in this article are in addition to dance, art, or humanities instruction.
Section 59-10-310. Each elementary school shall:
(1) ensure that school food service meals are made attractive to students by appealing to their taste preferences and meeting their cultural needs;
(2) encourage students to eat school meals by offering a choice of entrées at lunch;
(3) encourage input regarding the selection of food items to be offered in the school meal programs by promoting and encouraging student and parent participation in taste-testing events, in menu-review panels, and in online recipe reviewing;
(4) ensure that school food service meals not only provide the optimal nutrition that students need for growth, development, and academic achievement but also support the development of healthful eating behaviors in students, including learning to eat a variety of foods;
(5) offer at least two percent fat, one percent fat, and nonfat milk at breakfast and lunch and restrict access to whole milk;
(6) offer a low-fat meal choice at every meal. 'Low-fat meal' means a meal that includes thirty percent or less of the calories from fat;
(7) provide low-fat and nonfat salad dressings;
(8) provide information on calories, percentages of fat, and serving sizes of school meal items to help students select appropriate portions of food;
(9) offer a minimum of four choices of fruits and vegetables daily, including fresh fruits and vegetables in season, salad bars, or prepackaged salads;
(10) offer whole-grain foods whenever possible to meet bread and cereal requirements;
(11) encourage preschool, kindergarten, and elementary students to try a variety of foods by serving the full reimbursable meal;
(12) ensure that one serving of snacks, sweets, and side dishes, except certain nuts, seeds, and cheeses approved by the State Board of Education, has no more than:
(a) thirty percent of calories from fat;
(b) ten percent calories from saturated fat;
(c) ten percent of calories from trans-fatty acids; and
(d) thirty-five percent of added sugar by weight;
(13) limit single-serving food items sold to students to the following maximum portion sizes:
(a) 1.25 ounces for snacks, including baked chips, crackers, popcorn, cereal, trail mix, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, jerky, and other like snacks;
(b) 2 ounces for cookies or cereal bars;
(c) 3 ounces for other bakery items, including sweet rolls, muffins, and other like bakery items;
(d) 4 ounces for frozen desserts, including ice cream, ice cream bars, and other like frozen desserts;
(e) 8 ounces for yogurt (not frozen); and
(f) 1/2 cup for fried potatoes or other fried vegetables;
(14) ensure that single servings of entrée items and side dishes are no larger than the portions of those foods served by school food services; and
(15) offer fruits and vegetables for sale at any location on the school site where foods are sold.
Section 59-10-320. (A) An elementary school may not provide to students at any time during the school day foods of minimal nutritional value, candy, or competitive foods. However, this policy does not restrict the types of food that a parent or guardian provides for his own child's consumption at school. A school may adopt more restrictive rules as a local policy.
(B) Each elementary school shall remove food, soda, and carbonated vending machines from public areas. However, beverage vending machines may sell products that contain one hundred percent fruit juice or bottled water, and food vending machines may sell products that meet state and USDA guidelines as a healthy snack. The school health advisory council shall decide upon these snacks at the local level.
(C) Each elementary school shall limit vending sales and sales of foods and beverages other than school meals, except for sales of milk, juice, entrees, bread, fruits, vegetables, and a food item that is considered a meal component.
Section 59-10-330. Each elementary school shall provide students at least twenty minutes to eat lunch once they have received their food. In determining the total length of the lunch period, a school shall consider transport time to and from the cafeteria, time to go through the line, and time to bus trays at the end of lunch.
Section 59-10-340. (A) Each school district shall establish and maintain a Coordinate School Health Advisory Council (CSHAC) to assess, plan, implement, and monitor school health policies and programs within the district, including the development of a local wellness policy as required of school districts participating in the USDA school lunch and after school snack programs beginning in school year 2005-06. The district level coordinated school health council must be composed of community and school representatives from the eight areas of the Centers for Disease Control's coordinated school health model, local health department, school administration, and any other constituents required by the USDA local wellness policy implementation.
(B) The State Department of Education shall make available to each school district a coordinated school health model designed to address health issues of children. The program must provide for coordinating the following eight components: safe and healthy environment, physical education, health education, staff wellness, health services, guidance and psycho-social health, nutrition services, and parent and community involvement. The Department of Education shall notify each school district of the availability of professional development opportunities and provide technical assistance for implementing the coordinated school health model.
(C) Each district shall develop a school heath improvement plan in collaboration with the CSHAC that includes improving student nutrition and physical activity and the USDA local wellness policy and submit to the Department of Education their plans for implementation of these actions by July 1, 2006. Progress reports on the implementation of these plans must be submitted to the Department of Education by July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008.
Section 59-10-350. Each elementary school shall establish and maintain a school-level coordinated school health advisory council. The school-level council must be composed of representatives from each of the eight component areas of a coordinated school health program as defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Each school shall use the CDC School Health Index to assess, plan, implement, and monitor coordinated school health programs at the school level. The school health improvement plan and progress must be included in the required School Improvement Council five-year strategic plan for each school.
Section 59-10-360. (A) Students in kindergarten through fifth grade shall receive a minimum of twenty minutes of nutrition education per week within the required number of minutes per week of health education over the course of thirty-six weeks.
(B) The Department of Education shall assess health education programs for their effectiveness and adherence to state health and safety standards. This data must be reported on the school report card. Pilot health education assessments must be implemented in the 2005-06 school year with full implementation in all schools in the 2006-07 school year.
(C) Teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade shall provide professional development in health education to include nutrition education annually.
(D) Each elementary school is encouraged to adopt and implement an age-appropriate, proven-effective nutrition education curriculum that is aligned with the state health and safety standards."
SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 3:30 P.M.