House panel backs at least 40 minutes for school recesses

To the delight of young students who testified before lawmakers last week, the state on Tuesday moved a step closer to requiring more recess time.

The House Education Committee unanimously endorsed House Bill 1409 by Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, which would require public elementary schools to provide at least 40 minutes of “supervised, unstructured social time.”

Proponents of additional recess time argue that it helps children’s physical and social development while also improving classroom focus, or as one young boy named Mack told lawmakers, it gives kids a “brain break.”

Della Rosa pointed to research that confirms the benefits of about an hour of unstructured social and play time during a school day, pointing out that most Arkansas students receive far less.

“Most kids are getting approximately 20 minutes day,” Della Rosa said during a hearing on the bill last week. “And we’re talking elementary, which is in my opinion — and I’m not a researcher, I’m not a doctor, I’m not an educator, but I am a parent and I have been a kid— that’s insufficient.”

The amount of recess time most public schools offer has declined over years in the face of more state requirements for things that must be accomplished each school day. The increase in state mandates has put school administrators in a bind because they have a host of state obligations to meet within a finite amount of time.

HB1409 solves the problem by categorizing recess as “instructional time,” which must comprise at least six hours of a school day. The change, in addition to adding more time for student play, will also free up “duty time” for non-instructional activities like lunch.

The Council of State Governments found in 2017 that only five states require recess despite insistence from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics on the important role of recess in elementary-age children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. Arizona lawmakers enacted a law last year requiring elementary schools to provide at least two periods of recess per day.

Ali Noland of Arkansas-based Parents for Active Learning provided education committee members with studies on the benefits of unstructured social and play time. Some of the findings Noland cited from a 2016 study by Texas Christian University in several Texas schools include a 30 percent increase in student focus, a 25 percent decrease in off-task behaviors, a 2-to-3 percent improvement in math and reading scores, and better attitudes among children about going to school.

Noland added that extended recess brings other benefits too.

“These are things like being able to work together, being able to share, conflict resolution,” Noland said. “This is often the only time during the school day that kids get to freely socialize with each other.”

State legislators passed a law in 2017 creating a pilot program at 32 public schools that would offer an hour of recess each day. That program is underway. Della Rosa said in an interview that she’d like to await the results of that program, and potentially, push for an hour of required recess time down the road.

No one in the committee opposed the notion of increased recess, but Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, raised concerns about adding another state mandate to the school districts.

Della Rosa responded that she hated mandates, but that this issue was important enough to require one. The Arkansas Department of Education may waive the mandate if a school district demonstrates that it provides the same amount of physical activity through unstructured social time and structured time like physical education courses. However, Della Rosa didn’t expect the department to approve many waivers.