|
Local - WRTV TheIndyChannel.com Bill
Would Require More Healthy Foods In School Machines 10 December 03 A
proposed bill targeting childhood obesity would aim to put healthier foods in
vending machines at Indiana's public schools, RTV6's Kristi Tedesco reported
Tuesday. The
bill, expected to be submitted to the state House in January, also would require
five days of physical education per week for Indiana public-school students in
grades K-8. The
proposal, authored in part by State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, would require
that 50 percent of foods sold in vending machines qualify as healthy under
guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tedesco reported. "It's
a societal issue," said Frank Bush, leader of the Indiana School Boards
Association. "It's
how students are being raised and being taught to be involved in terms of taking
care of their bodies." Officials
at the state Department of Education warned that the physical-education
requirement could make the bill unfeasible. Schools
would have to increase their physical education staff -- something that would be
difficult because of current school-funding issues, officials said. Bush
also urged caution. "I certainly would want ... people to have some insight into the facts before we go into a more rigid, more stringent and more restrictive public policy," he said. |