A bill mandating

20 minutes of recess in the state’s elementary schools wins unanimous support from the Florida Senate’s education committee.

Recess could make a comeback this year in Florida schools.

A bill mandating 20 minutes of recess in the state’s elementary schools won unanimous support from the Florida Senate’s education committee Tuesday, a sign of support from the chamber that last year — with different leaders — refused to take up the measure.

Key Senate leaders’ unwillingness to take it up killed the 2016 recess bill, which had passed the Florida House.

The bill was pushed initially by the “recess moms” from Orange County, a group upset that recess has faded from Florida’s public schools, crowded out by academic demands.

Now a statewide network, these parents argue children need a break, and a chance to play, so they can better focus in class — a view endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But only three Florida school districts — those in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties — require daily recess in elementary schools. So they are again pushing for a statewide mandate.

“I would say this bill is really the power of advocacy, of parents,” said Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, the bill’s sponsor.

Angie Gallo, an Orange mother and the legislation chair of the Florida PTA, told the Senate committee there is widespread parental support for recess — but little willingness in most school districts to require it. So a state law is needed, she said.

“We’ve heard complaints from school districts that there isn’t enough time in the school day, but that simply isn’t true,” Gallo added.

The House version of the bill has not yet been taken up, and some members of the group Recess for all Florida Students — which tops 5,700 — think passage there might not be as easy this year. A similar measure passed the House by an 112 to 2 vote last year, but the November elections brought in new members.