Dear Legislator,

As your constituent and an American Heart Association You’re the Cure advocate, I urge you to cosponsor the Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act of 2007 (HR3257/S.2173). This bill amends the No Child Left Behind Act to encourage public schools to provide regular and quality physical education and activity and ensure that children learn about healthy lifestyles.

We are facing a childhood obesity epidemic. The Department of Health and Human Services forecasts that, three years from now, one out of five children and youth in the United States will be obese. Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight adults, putting these young people increased risk for heart disease, stroke and other diseases later in life. Yet, at the same time, schools are cutting back on physical education: from 1991 to 2003, enrollment of high school students in daily PE classes fell from 41.6 percent to 28.4 percent. This means that fewer children are learning about healthy lifestyles, and fewer are physically active during the school day. It also means that their ability to learn is impaired, since scientific research has demonstrated that children’s health has an impact on their academic achievement.

The FIT Kids Act makes sure that parents know about the quality and quantity of physical education in their children’s schools. The Act would further ensure appropriate professional development for health and physical education teachers. And it would fund research to examine the link between children’s health and their academic achievement, and recommend effective ways to combat childhood obesity and improve healthy living and physical activity.

I hope you will agree with me that the FIT Kids Act is legislation needed to help arrest the childhood obesity epidemic, and I hope you will support this vital legislation.