PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND EQUAL JUSTICE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

California is dropping the ball on providing physical education in public schools, and students – especially those who are low income or of color – are paying the price. School districts can comply voluntarily with physical education laws – or advocates can enforce the law through the courts. Parents, teachers, students and public officials can take action to ensure students move more, eat well, stay healthy, and do their best in school and in life. Of nearly 1,000 school districts in California, 188 were audited from 2004-2009, and exactly half were not enforcing physical education minutes requirements, according to public records obtained from the Department of Education by The City Project, a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization working to enforce physical education laws throughout the state. The California Court of Appeal ruled in November 2010 that public schools must provide physical education to comply with state law that requires at least 200 minutes every ten days, an average of 20 minutes per day in elementary school. (The amount rises to at least 40 minutes on average per day in middle and high school.) The appellate court overturned a decision of the trial court which held that state law set goals but not legally enforceable requirements, and that private parties like parents do not have the right to enforce th