Section 20-2-777. Annual fitness assessment program; reporting and compliance

   (a) (1) Beginning in the 2011-2012 school year, each local school system shall conduct an annual fitness assessment program, as approved and funded by the State Board of Education, one time each school year for students in grades one through 12, to be conducted only during a physical education course that is taught by a certificated physical education teacher in which a student is enrolled. Such assessments shall include methods deemed by the State Board of Education as appropriate to ascertain levels of student physical fitness. Each local school system shall report the individual results of the fitness assessment to the parent or guardian of each student assessed and the aggregate results of the fitness assessments by school to the State Board of Education annually in a format approved and funded by the State Board of Education. The minimum required contents of the report shall be determined by the State Board of Education.

   (2) Each local school system shall be required to provide at least the minimum instruction in physical education prescribed by the State Board of Education in rules and regulations established pursuant to subsection (c) of Code Section 20-2-142.

(b) The State Board of Education shall be responsible for the coordination of health and physical education and fitness activities and requirements, including, but not limited to, modification or promulgation of rules and regulations related thereto. The State Board of Education shall adopt and disseminate to local school systems standards which adequately express the most current and widely accepted best practices and benchmarks in the areas of student health and physical education. The State Board of Education's efforts may be supported with state, federal, or private funding or a combination thereof.

(c) The State Board of Education shall submit an annual report to the Governor, beginning October 1, 2012, and annually thereafter. Such report shall include the compliance status of each local school system and each school with applicable State Board of Education rules and regulations. The Governor may, in coordination with the State Board of Education, establish one or more recognition programs to acknowledge local school systems and schools which have most improved in their physical fitness assessments. The Governor may collaborate with private corporations in the development and implementation of recognition programs pursuant to this subsection, including providing monetary or other incentives to local school systems or schools for attaining certain levels of health status. All local school systems or schools receiving acknowledgment through a recognition program established by the Governor pursuant to this subsection shall also be recognized on the State Board of Education's website.

(d) This Code section, except for subsection (b), shall be repealed on June 30, 2019.

Code 1981, § 20-2-777, enacted by Ga. L. 2009, p. 191, § 1/HB 229.