Recess bill gets scaled back in Florida House

A bill going through the Florida House will no longer require daily recess for kids.

State lawmakers watered down a proposal that was supposed to require 20 minutes of recess Monday through Friday for all public elementary students.

Under this new bill, recess would be required -- at most -- just two days a week for kids in kindergarten through third grade.  Kids in fourth and fifth wouldn't have any guarantees of recess.

Supporters say the changes had to be made for the bill to have a chance to finally pass this year in the House.

"The difficult part is the assumption that schools are not currently having recess. The majority of our schools do have recess, and they have it daily,” explained Republican state Rep. Rene Plasencia of Orlando. “What we are advocating for are the schools that aren't having recess daily, and those are peppered around the entire state."

The Senate version of the bill still mandates 20 minutes of daily recess for all elementary school students.  Its set to be heard by the full chamber Wednesday.

Both the House and Senate bills must match before they can be presented to the governor for approval.