JEFFERSON CITY — A House committee passed a bill Wednesday that would increase physical activity requirements for K-12 students in public schools.

House Bill 2748, sponsored by Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, narrowly passed in the General Laws Committee on Wednesday on a 6-4 vote. There was support and opposition from both Republicans and Democrats.

This bill would extend the required time for physical activity in Missouri public schools an additional 20 to 30 minutes, to 50 minutes a day for grades K-5 and 60 minutes for grades 6-12. Davidson said this is the first time this bill has been introduced in the state of Missouri.

These requirements could be fulfilled through extended physical education classes and recess for elementary-aged children and solely through physical education classes for middle school and high school students.

Under the bill, no exemptions would be made for students in school-sponsored or out-of-school sports, but there would be exceptions for students with disabilities.

Davidson said that cognitive function and memory retrieval can increase following physical activity. He said physical activity is as critical as reading, writing and arithmetic for all students.

He does not intend to add time to the school day or year, instead opting for “rearranging” the school day. He said the time will be created by taking a maximum of 10 minutes from each class.

“The data has shown learning outcomes go up, even when you draw that physical activity out of other course requirements,” Davidson said in an interview after the committee vote. “Then, you also see behavior outcomes improve; you also see mental health improve.”

General Laws Committee Chair Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield, said he set this bill for its initial hearing because he believes that remaining stagnant for long periods of time can harm learning.

“Not all time spent educating someone is equal,” Keathley said in an interview last week. “Physical work ... or exercise can create more quality learning time. Even if it means less overall time, if that quality is better, then our students are learning and having the benefit of physical education.”

Keathley has seen the effects of stagnation on his elementary-aged children.

“It’s really difficult to tell a child, you know, who’s in kindergarten or first grade to sit down for six hours and expect them to retain all that information,” Keathley said.

During a Jan. 21 hearing on the bill, some representatives voiced their concerns about making this a statewide bill over staffing to handle the influx of students in the gym and overexertion from athletic extracurriculars. Students may also be faced with scheduling conflicts, especially with AP classes and dual enrollment for high schoolers.

“If we are requiring this every day, then my kid and every other kid out there who gets to choose an elective, loses that choice because we decided we know what’s better for them,” said Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-O’Fallon.

High school students in Missouri from both sides shared their opinions in testimony given to the committee. Those in favor said that increased physical activity would assist in reforming curricula. The students that opposed the bill deemed the additional physical activity unnecessary and a disruption to their studies.

The National Education Association has not taken a stance on this bill yet, but Otto Fajen, an NEA representative, said that children, especially elementary-aged boys, benefit from increased physical activity.

Fajen said specialists in teaching children with dyslexia have seen improvements in students’ learning that have a flexible learning schedule interspersed with physical exercise.

If a student has become stuck on a learning concept, the physical break assists in recentering, he said. This works primarily for homeschool students because they have more fluidity in their learning schedule, and homeschooled students do not have to take standardized tests in Missouri.

“There’s kind of a flow against that caused by the structure of accountability and standardized testing in areas that do not include physical literacy,” Fajen said.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri Association of School Administrators declined to comment on the bill.

Thomas Loughrey, a retired teacher, was among several people who spoke in favor of the bill. He said that in districts with additional physical requirements, test scores have increased.

Matthiesen compared this performance to test scores in China, where they require two hours of physical education daily and an 11-hour school day.

“If we’re going to go down this route as a committee, as a legislature, we need to be prepared to model Missouri schools off of communist China’s system to accommodate the extra requirements,” Matthiesen said.