Time-Based Changes In Physical Education Offerings In Response To A Legislative Mandate

Abstract

Physical education (PE) remains one of the most effective strategies for promoting school-based physical activity. Fewer than 10 states mandate public schools meet current public health recommendations for PE. Moreover, it remains unknown how implementing such mandates affects PE offerings. In 2007, Oregon passed legislation requiring elementary schools to provide 150+ min/week of PE by fall of 2017. No funding was offered to support this mandate. PURPOSE: To evaluate time-based changes in PE offerings among Oregon public elementary schools for 8 years (2009-10 to 2016-17) preceding required compliance to the legislative mandate requiring 150+ min/week of PE. METHODS: A total of 752 Oregon public elementary schools reported yearly minutes of PE offered and the total number of school weeks in session per year. Mean PE min/week were calculated by dividing yearly PE minutes by weeks in session. Additional publicly available explanatory variables including rurality (rural vs. non-rural county designations) and school schedule (four vs. five-day school week) were collected. A linear-mixed effects model was fit to evaluate time based-changes in PE with min/week of PE as the dependent variable, school year, rurality, and school schedule as fixed effects, and school as a random effect. RESULTS: Although significant year-to-year variability in PE minutes was observed (p < 0.001), between 2009-10 to 2014-15 mean PE minutes remained relatively stable at 74 to 77 min/week before experiencing two larger year-to-year increases in 2015-16 (+3.9 min/week from 2014-15 to 80.8 ± 1.8 min/week) and 2016-17 (+4.0 min/week from 2015-16 to 84.8 ± 1.9 min/week). Schools located in rural counties were offered significantly more PE than non-rural schools (80.7 ± 1.7 vs. 74.6 ± 1.8 min/week, respectively, p < 0.001). No significant difference in mean PE min/week was observed between four vs. five-day school week formats (77.7 ± 2.3 vs. 77.5 ± 1.3 min/week, respectively, p = 0.924). CONCLUSION: Despite having a 10-year lead-in period to increase PE time to 150+ min/week, Oregon elementary schools were only offering about half the required PE min/week (56.7%) in the year prior to mandatory compliance. Unfunded mandates requiring large increases in PE offerings may not effectively increase PE min/week to the required level.