Following Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s request to the State for a performance audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and public health experts Susan Babey, Ph.D., Richard Brown, Ph.D., and Eloisa Gonzalez, M.D., have submitted a letter requesting that any audit of LAUSD address the health, physical fitness, and nutrition of our children. The Center is committed to getting people active, and giving them the places and means to do so.

LAUSD does not enforce elementary school physical education requirements. Fully 87% of the children in LAUSD are not physically fit. Superintendent Roy Romer did not even touch upon student health and fitness in the annual State of the Schools address on July 20.

Health, physical fitness, and nutrition must be included among the core goals of a quality education. Healthy students perform better academically. The new federal local wellness policy for schools calls upon LAUSD to promote student wellness through physical activity, nutrition education, and reduction of obesity. Healthy students perform better academically. This is the first generation in the history of this country in which children will have a lower life expectancy than their parents if present trends in obesity and inactivity continue.

Children of color in the Los Angeles region disproportionately live in communities of concentrated poverty without places for physical activity in schools and parks, and with no cars or an adequate transit system to reach those places. The human health implications of the lack of places and policies for physical activity are profound. These children disproportionately suffer from obesity, diabetes, and other diseases related to inactivity.

We urge you to write to your elected officials asking that any audit of LAUSD address student health, physical education, and nutrition. You can download a form letter here.