Study finds 1.3M Calif. teens don't participate in gym class
SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- California requires middle and high school students to get 400 minutes of physical education every 10 days.
A new University of California, Los Angeles, study found 38 percent of teens enrolled in a public school - that's 1.3 million - do not participate in any school-based gym class.
More alarming, almost all 12 year olds participate in gym classes, but by the time they are 17 years old, less than a quarter do.
The report also found more than 80 percent of all California teens fail to meet the current federal recommendation for physical activity.
While high schools students can exempt out of gym class for certain reasons, researchers largely blame the state budget cuts for the lack of school-based exercise programs, despite numerous studies that show physical education