CHILDREN’S HEALTH: Scholar Ties Obesity Problem To Passage Of Proposition 13

      A California State University-Sacramento professor believes the growing problem of childhood obesity in the state can be linked, in part, to passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the Sacramento Bee reports. Robin Reese, who teaches physical education, said that as a result of Proposition 13, "school budgets suffered and physical education specialists lost their jobs." Though state law requires elementary schools to provide "200 minutes of P.E. every 10 days ... and that middle schools provide 400 minutes," Reese said many schools don't offer the mandated instruction. "Children need physical education every day, and the only place I know they are getting that is Country Day School." But Reese, "who trains and places specialists in local school districts," noted, "Slowly, school districts with concerned administrators and parents realize what physical education has to offer and are putting it back in."

It's No Wonder
      Overall, Reese said increasing obesity rates among children are "no surprise" given that researchers "are linking the problem to too much television and too little physical activity." She said, "It's not just television programs, it's also time in front of computers and video games hooked up to television and in arcades" (Perkins, 3/25).