Oklahoma legislation · 2026 Regular Session
Oklahoma SB1481: Schools; requiring certain schools to provide students in certain grades with certain amount of recess per day. Effective date. Emergency.
Status: Signed into law, April 22, 2026
What the bill says
An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2021, Section 11-103.9, which relates to physical education program requirements; requiring certain schools to provide students in certain grades certain amount of recess per day as a condition of accreditation; allowing recess to be divided into two periods; requiring recess to consist of certain play; prohibiting removal of recess as a form of discipline; removing language encouraging certain amount of recess in certain grades; updating statutory language; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency. SUBJECT: Schools.
From the enrolled text, April 20, 2026:
An Act relating to schools; amending 70 O.S. 2021, Section 11-103.9, which relates to physical education program requirements; requiring certain schools to provide students in certain grades certain amount of recess per day as a condition of accreditation; allowing recess to be divided into two periods; requiring recess to consist of certain play; prohibiting removal of recess as a form of discipline; removing language encouraging certain amount of recess in certain grades; updating statutory language; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency. SUBJECT: Schools SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 11-103.9, is amended to read as follows: Section 11-103.9. A. Except as otherwise provided for in this section, the State Board of Education shall require, as a condition of accreditation, that school districts provide to all students physical education programs which may include athletics. B. The Board shall require, as a condition of accreditation, that public elementary schools provide instruction, for students in full-day kindergarten and grades one through five, in physical education or exercise programs for a minimum of an average of sixty (60) minutes each week. The time students participate in recess shall not be counted toward the sixty-minutes-per-week physical education requirement. Schools may exclude from participation in the physical education or exercise programs required in this subsection those students who have been placed into an …