Action Alert: Annual Physical Fitness Tests for Students Suspended - Urge Legislature to Reconsider

Friday, May 24, 2013


Annual Physical Fitness Tests for Students Suspended - Urge Legislature to Reconsider

You can take action on this alert by reading the information below and following the directions at the bottom.

Issue

Ask the Legislature to Reconsider Suspension of Physical Fitness Tests for Students

Background

We need your help! Earlier this month, the Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee voted to suspend funding for schools to administer and report the results of annual physical fitness tests that students currently take in grades 5, 7 and 9. These physical fitness tests are vital to the fight against childhood obesity for a variety of reasons, including:

• The results of this testing provide one of the best and most comprehensive data sources on childhood obesity in the nation and that data will lose its value if not consistently collected.
• School use the data to determine the fitness levels of their students and adjust their physical education program accordingly.
• The tests also provide individualized information to students and their families about student physical fitness.
• The information from this testing is critically important for evaluating the effectiveness of our obesity prevention policies and for ensuring that health disparities based on race and gender are identified and effectively addressed by policy makers.

The obesity epidemic costs California an estimated $41 billion annually. By hindering progress in the fight against the obesity epidemic, we believe suspending funding for this program will actually cost the state money---the opposite of the Committee's desired effect.

Action Needed:
Please join us in asking the Legislature to reconsider suspending funding for this important physical fitness testing! Click on the ‘act now’ button below and you’ll be taken to our Action Center where you will be guided through the process of sending a fax to key elected officials.

Message To Be Sent To
Your message will be sent to each of the following targets:

 Assemblymember Michael L. Morrell
Senator Darrell Steinberg
Senator Vacant
Governor
Message
A sample message appears below, which you may edit before sending.

Budget Conference Committee’s Suspension of Funding for Physical Fitness Testing


Dear Assemblymember Morrell,

I am writing to urge you to reconsider the Budget Conference Committee's action to suspend the requirement for local school boards to administer the annual Physical Fitness Test to pupils in grades 5, 7 and 9.

Left unaddressed the state’s current childhood obesity epidemic will doom children to serious health problems now and in the future and saddle the state's economy with exorbitant and preventable long-term costs. Now more than ever it is important for policy makers to have good long term data to evaluate the continuing effectiveness of interventions for addressing the obesity epidemic.

These physical fitness tests are vital to the fight against childhood obesity for a variety of reasons, including:
• The tests provides individualized information to students and their families about the student’s health-related fitness measures and information about the risks associated with certain health variables such as obesity.
• School use the data to determine the fitness levels of their student population, which shapes curricular development.
• The tests provide important data that helps policy-makers make informed decisions related to physical fitness and childhood obesity.
• The results of this testing provide one of the best and most comprehensive data sources on childhood obesity in the nation.

The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates annual savings of $2.35 million from suspending the PFT. However, this estimate does not take into consideration the negative impact this policy decision will have on state costs related to the obesity epidemic. However, suspending this low-cost mandate will actually cost the state money because it hinders progress in the fight against the obesity epidemic, which, according to research from the California Center for Public Health Advocacy costs California an estimated $41 billion annually for health care and lost work productivity.

Please reconsider your decision. Our children need you!

Sincerely,

Your name and address here

This Action Alert Campaign is Closed.
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