MOUNT VERNON — If two pieces of legislation pass — Ohio Senate Bill 210 and Ohio House Bill 373 make up what is named Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation — school districts throughout Ohio will be required to measure their student bodies — literally.

That is, schools would have to establish a body mass index and weight status category screening program. Each student enrolled in kindergarten, third, fifth and ninth grades would have to undergo a screening for body mass index and weight status category before Nov. 1 of the school year. The aggregate body mass screening data (Body Mass Index) would be submitted to the state’s Education Management Information System and be included on the district and state report cards. An additional clause mandates that schools notify the parent or guardian of each screened student of any health risks associated with the student’s screening results, and provide information about appropriately addressing the risks.

According to the Ohio School Boards Association, the bills are “being pushed” by the Healthy Children Coalition, which includes the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association.

The legislation would also: Require 30 minutes of physical activity for students each day; increase physical education time for high school students from a half unit to a full unit; eliminate the current option of counting sports activities, cheerleading and/or marching band as partial physical education credit; require schools to offer more nutritious food and beverages in vending machines and on menus (the legislation would set those nutrition standards); and increase access to free breakfast for students who qualify.

Danville’s superintendent Dan Harper said he thinks it will be very difficult to get everything in place by the 2011-12 school year and to constantly monitor the BMI for all students.

“I don’t think there’s enough information out there to know how it will be implemented,” Harper said. “We serve healthy meals at school, and so we are watching what we are feeding children. Our vending machines are off during lunches and the ones in the high school lobby have been removed. It will have to be the school and the home working together to make it work, but there have been studies in which up to 80 percent of parents surveyed didn’t think their children were obese or overweight.”

Regarding the 30 minutes of physical activity for all students each day, Harper said part of that problem is scheduling and having the gym time available for so many more classes.

“Even if you have an extra physical education teacher, are you going to have a gym available?” he asked. “There are also some questions as to whether recess time in the lower grades could count toward that 30 minutes a day. We will be looking at the whole piece and trying to put together a plan as to how we will be able to fulfill those requirements if the legislation does pass.”

“It is easy politics to force more requirements on schools,” East Knox Superintendent John Marschhausen said via e-mail. “At East Knox we now offer breakfast to every child in the district. We have recess for students in grades kindergarten through eight. Our vending machines are off in the buildings and we offer meals that meet all requirements. We now teach everything from reading to ‘healthy dating habits.’ We are facing increasing expenses and decreasing revenue. ... All this in a time when we are revising standards, improving instruction and facing new assessments. Honestly, it is a bit overwhelming.”

OSBA, the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials also have concerns, particularly about how the new mandates will be funded as well as how the additional physical education and activity requirements will fit into an already busy school day.

HB 373 is pending in the House health committee and SB 210 is pending in the Senate health, human services and aging committee.