SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KMOX) - A bill that would make 30 minutes of recess mandatory at all Illinois public elementary schools is ready for the governor's signature to become law.
Senate Bill 654, which is being called the "right-to-play" bill was passed by the House with the lowest-possible vote total: 60-52. It now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk.
The bill calls for all public school students in kindergarten through fifth-grade to have at least 30 minutes of recess every day. It defines recess as "supervised, unstructured, child-directed play." A previous version of the bill called for K through eighth-graders but has since been narrowed.
Schools won't be allowed to substitute P.E. as recess. Those who opposed the bill say for teachers to keep up with students' reading, math and science requirements, they may have to cut into art and music classes.
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The bill was sponsored by Sen. Robert Peters and Rep. Aaron Ortiz. Both say they weren't give recess time as young students.
"Yes, it's personal to me, because I never had recess growing up, ever," Ortiz said. "And I don't want to see any child in our state to go without an opportunity to have recess."
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