State Rep. Jeff Hickman, R-Dacoma, has a plan that could impact an onerous problem that puts Oklahoma near the top of a list not to be envied.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 15 percent of Oklahoma’s teens are considered severely overweight or obese. Hickman knows from information contained in multiple studies, this problem begins when teens are developing eating and exercise habits when they are young.

“Obesity in young people nationwide has tripled since 1980,” Hickman said. Hickman believes the problem will not just disappear. It has to made a priority by not just parents but also schools, where children spend at least six hours of their day.

Hickman filed House Bill 2574, which raises the required amount of physical education (PE) time for Kindergarten to the fifth Grade from 60 minutes per week to 150 minutes per week. The bill passed unanimously this week in the House Subcommittee on Common Education.

But with the requirements placed on schools by President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program and additional testing requirements, when are schools going to add more physical activity into the schedules?, some educators ask.

Cedar Heights Elementary School of Woodward has already hiked its own physical education requirements to 100 minutes a week, said Principal Sharon Yeager.

Wednesday, students galloped back and forth to avoid being hit by a soft black ball. On this day, it was the girls against the boys and no one got a rest from the fast-paced game of Dodgeball.

Yeager said her staff accomplishes the increased number of PE hours by following a strict schedule because the “gym” is actually the cafeteria and cannot be used at will. With an added requirement of 50 more minutes of Physical Education per child per week and without a dedicated gym, it would add more than an hour to the school day, Yeager said.

Of course extending the school day costs money, she said.

Yeager does fancy physical education for her students for many reasons. Not the least of those is the improved testing performance of her students as a result of her teachers who use movement activities during testing season, she said.

Hickman is not in a fiduciary dream world about what these changes might mean.

“It comes down to prioritizing,” he said. “It is just like your own budgeting at home. If it is something that is important to us, then we might have to spend education dollars to include it.”

He notes, though, that there are many education bills up for consideration that include everything from extending the school day to extending the school year. With the attention this and other education issues are receiving, Hickman believes there will be a fit that will create enough time for adequate physical education.

For Hickman, who has led the Fit Kids Physical Education Task Force, which met numerous times last year at the State Capital to formulate ideas for physical education requirements, it is indeed a priority.

“The health of Oklahoma students needs to be a priority, and physical education is beneficial to a student throughout his or her lifetime,” Hickman said. “Other states have seen the need to increase physical education in schools. Oklahoma must not fall behind but be a leader in this initiative.”

Hickman believes Woodward schools and other schools in his district are leading the way, as most are already well over the PE minimum of 60 hours and already ramped up to 100.

“I am proud that schools in my area have already gone beyond the minimum and are being an example to follow for the rest of the state,” he said.