Iowa Bill Could Exempt Show Choir Students From PE Requirements

Show choir may be recognized as a physical education credit in Iowa.

Iowa law requires students to take a physical education class each semester they are in school but those students who are involved in athletics can be exempt from these credits. Now, there is a new bill being proposed to exempt show choir students as well.

According to the Des Moines Register, a senate subcommittee recently advanced a bill that would excuse high school students that are part of show choir from physical education classes. Show choir would be added to the list of extracurricular activities that already excuse students from semesters of physical education.

This idea came about from Storm Ziegler who is a show choir director at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids. Storm and the school said that the students there practice at least 3 and a half hours a week with a ton of work including dancing and singing that goes into it. On top of that, the show choir performances are around 20 minutes of just dancing and singing and you can see the hard work and sweat that goes into it.

Under bill approval, high school principals would excuse show choir students from PE requirements that equate to the amount of time of a PE class. Students grades 9 to 11 would be exempt from one semester of PE per year while high school seniors could be exempt from both semesters.

The bill is now heading to the full Senate Education Committee for approval. Check out more of the story here.