Update (2/26/09): HB 229 passes the House; now moves to the Senate. Support still needed!

House Bill 229, called the SHAPE Act of 2009, is focused on childhood obesity prevention in Georgia. Here are some highlights of the legislation:

– Each local school system shall conduct an annual fitness assessment for students in grades 4-12 enrolled in PE.
– Each local system shall annually report the aggregate results of the fitness assessments to the State Board.
– Each local school system shall be required to provide at least the minimum instruction in physical education prescribed by the State Board of Education.
– The State Board of Education shall adopt and disseminate to local school systems standards which adequately express the most current and widely accepted best practices and benchmarks in the areas of student health and physical education.

The SHAPE Act stands for Student Health and Physical Education Act. The bill’s sponsor, House Education Chairman Brooks Coleman, and Bill Burns, Georgia Advocacy Director of the American Heart Association, have provided the following additional information and materials.

Download:
? A copy of the bill
? Talking Points about the SHAPE Act
? Resolution of Support for the SHAPE Act

Fax all signed resolutions to Bill Burns at 678.224.2085. He is also available to discuss the bill by phone at the same number.

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