Our View: Take time out on mandatory school recess
The News Herald
Ask a Republican legislator in Tallahassee about federal education mandates and you're likely to get a well-practiced diatribe about how Washington should butt out, schools are best left to local control, the people closest to the problem should address it, etc.
And that same lawmaker is just as likely to vote to attach more strings between the Capitol and the local school districts. Hence, the numerous state mandates on curriculum, testing, budgeting, and other areas that tie the hands of hometown education officials. It's a wonder the Legislature hasn't yet scheduled restroom breaks for all first-graders.
It is, however, trying to schedule recess.
A bill to mandate 20 minutes of daily recess in Florida's elementary schools has passed three House committees without opposition and now awaits passage by the full chamber. Its fate in the Senate, though, is much cloudier because of one man: Sen. John Legg, R-Port Richey, chairman of the Education Committee, has so far refused to allow the bill to be heard.
"I am not going to put it on the agenda," Legg told the Tampa Bay Times. "It doesn't merit a Tallahassee solution."
That's a heretical stand among many of his colleagues, and an unpopular one with lots of parents around the state. But it's the right philosophy.
We just wish it were applied to more education issues.
Giving young students free time to play outside is inarguably good policy. Studies have verified what common sense has long taught: Children need to burn off some energy each day. It makes them better learners, and often better behaved in the classroom.
Unfortunately, students these days are less likely to get recess than their parents did. Many schools have cut back on, or eliminated, recess because there simply isn't enough time in the school day, what with all the core classes and testing that have to be fulfilled ... thanks in large part to state mandates.
The Legislature's solution isn't to cut back on the number of mandates to make room for recess. Of course not. Rather, it wants to stack yet another mandate on top of the others, forcing schools to try to figure out how to shoehorn play time in among all the rest.
Instead of mandating recess, the state should encourage schools to add it to the schedule voluntarily — and they shouldn't wait for someone to figure out how to do that, if it's important enough for legislation it's important enough for them to seek out answers themselves.
Just because something is desirable doesn't mean it should be a law. That philosophy has put the country in the precarious position it now occupies.
When it comes to mandating recess. lawmakers should take a time out. But they also should be seeking to pare back other education diktats. Set standards for schools, but give them broad latitude in how they choose to achieve them.