1.This Act may be cited as P.E. for the 21st Century
Act
.
2.Competitive pilot
program to improve physical fitness education and curriculum
(a)From the amounts
appropriated to carry out this Act, the Secretary shall award not fewer than
10, but not more than 20 grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational
agencies and charter schools to improve physical fitness education and
curriculum in elementary schools and secondary schools.
(b)The Secretary may not award a grant under
this Act to more than 1 local educational agency or charter school in each
State.
(c)To the extent possible, the Secretary shall
ensure that grants under this Act are distributed throughout different regions
of the Nation, and that the recipients of a grant under this Act represent the
size, ethnic, economic, and geographic diversity (including rural and urban) of
local educational agencies and charter schools throughout the Nation.
(d)
(1)To receive a grant under this Act, a local educational
agency or charter school shall submit an application to the Secretary at such
time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may
require.
(2)The
Secretary shall ensure that the deadline for submitting applications under
paragraph (1) is not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(e)Each local educational agency and each charter school
receiving a grant under this Act shall use such funds to carry out, for 1
school year, a pilot program that—
(1)makes technology (such as heart rate
monitors, body mass testing, and body fat testing) a key component of testing
and assessing the physical fitness and improvement of each student enrolled in
elementary schools and secondary schools in the agency or the charter
school;
(2)creates
partnerships between the agency or charter school and local business (such as
gyms, groceries, and farmer’s markets) to ensure community support for the
program, and local financial and professional assistance; and
(3)incorporates
physical fitness education (in addition to and outside of the regular physical
fitness education classes provided by the agency or charter school) into
multiple areas of the curriculum, such as courses in math, sciences, social
science, home economics, and nutrition.
(f)
(1)Local
educational agency and charter school reportsEach local
educational agency and each charter school receiving a grant under this Act
shall, at the end of the last 3-month period of the pilot program being carried
out by the agency or charter school with such grant funds, submit to the
Secretary a report in such form and containing such information as the
Secretary may require, including information on the improvements in the
physical fitness of students enrolled in the elementary schools and secondary
schools in the agency or the charter school.
(2)Not later than 6 months after receiving
reports under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a report
on—
(A)the outcomes of
the pilot programs carried out with such grant funds, including the
improvements in the physical fitness of students participating in such
programs; and
(B)recommendations on improving the core
curriculum of physical fitness in elementary schools and secondary
schools.
(g)For
purposes of this Act:
(1)The terms local educational agency;
elementary school; and secondary school have the
meanings given such terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(2)The term charter school has the meaning given
the term in section 5210 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 7221i).
(3)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of Education.
(4)The term State means each of
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico.