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Wisconsin doesn’t require daily exercise for students.

Physical education must be given weekly to students in kindergarten through sixth grade and, for older middle school students, with “sufficient frequency and instructional time to meet the objectives outlined in the district’s curriculum plan.”

High school students must follow a curriculum “designed to build lifelong fitness habits.”

In 2024, GOP lawmakers as part of a child obesity task force introduced legislation to require 180 minutes of weekly “physical activity” for K-8 students. One lawmaker said the aim was to require movement, such as playing tennis, rather than teaching tennis.

The bill passed the Assembly but not the Senate.

On July 27, former Gov. Scott Walker called for a 60-minute daily exercise minimum.

In 2022-23, 18.4% of Wisconsin children ages 6-17 were obese, the 16th highest rate in the U.S.

Childhood obesity that lasts into adulthood can result in conditions such as diabetes, liver disease and high blood pressure.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Email
• Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: Email
• Speaker's Task Force on Childhood Obesity: Scope Summary
• Wisconsin Legislature: 2023 Assembly Bill 1016
• WPR: New bill requires Wisconsin students get 3 hours of movement per week
• Wisconsin Legislature: Assembly Bill 1016 actions
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: State of Childhood Obesity
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Childhood Obesity: A Complex Disease
• KFF: Obesity Rates Among Children: A Closer Look at Implications for Children Covered by Medicaid
• Johns Hopkins University Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative: Child and Family Health Measures: Wisconsin

Does Wisconsin require daily exercise for K-12 students? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.