JEFFERSON CITY — What began as a sweeping proposal to reshape the school day was repeatedly revised this year as lawmakers tried to balance health goals with learning outcomes.

By the legislative session’s end, an effort by Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, to add more physical activity to the K-12 school day had failed to gain final passage. The bill’s journey through the Missouri General Assembly illustrates the challenges of making new laws.

When Davidson filed House Bill 2748 earlier this session, the bill included all K-12 students. After concerns from lawmakers and school officials over scheduling and implementation, Davidson first scaled the bill back to K-8, then K-5, to keep it moving.

Davidson said the proposal grew out of concerns that physical education has been deprioritized both in and outside of schools, impacting students’ ability to learn.

“Instructional time is obviously one factor, but another factor is how ready and capable your brain is of actually learning that instruction,” Davidson said in a recent interview, “and that’s why physical activity is so important.”

Davidson’s parents are both in the school system, with his father being a teacher and his mother being an occupational therapist. He said he’s “in tune with some of the challenges our educators are facing.”

The bill included a required 60 minutes of physical activity, including at least 20 minutes of recess.

It advanced through the legislature on slim margins.

It passed the House General Laws Committee 6-4, and a revised version cleared the House on an 82-65 vote — the minimum needed for passage.

The Senate Education Committee added amendments before passing it in a 4-1 decision. But it never made it to the Senate floor for debate and a possible vote before the session ended on May 15.

The narrow votes reflect concerns from lawmakers in both parties about whether the legislature should dictate how schools structure the day.

“I think we’re going to fundamentally disagree on how much the legislature should get involved in planning, you know, the school district’s day,” Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-O’Fallon, told Davidson during the House committee hearing.

Despite these concerns, Matthiesen voted for the bill both in committee and on the House floor, even speaking in favor of it on the floor.

School officials and lobbyists also questioned whether districts could realistically fit the requirement into already packed schedules.

“There’s kind of a flow against (physical activity) caused by the structure of accountability and standardized testing in areas that do not include physical literacy,” Otto Fajen said on behalf of the Missouri NEA. “We’re not sure that a legislative solution is necessary, but we do think this is important for kids.”

Despite those concerns, some lawmakers and educators supported the proposal because they believed physical activity could improve students’ mental health, learning outcomes and social development.

“Play is important. Play is how you learn,” said Rep. Jamie Gragg, R-Ozark, during the committee hearing. “You’re learning your social skills, you’re learning your motor skills, you’re learning your experiential learning. You’re learning all these things through play.”

Davidson said that when fellow legislators disagreed with his proposal, he focused on selling them on the principle of physical activity, on “fundamentally what ought to be happening in our schools.”

Throughout the process, Republicans and Democrats were on both sides of the bill.

“I don’t know that I go out of my way to build bipartisan support. I think I just file legislation that I think is a good idea,” Davidson said, “and if people from both sides of the aisle think that’s a good idea, then that’s great, and if they don’t, then they don’t.”

After receiving feedback from the House Committee members, Davidson agreed to change the bill to include only K-8 graders. Davidson decided to further decrease the grade level to K-5 because he was not confident in being able to secure enough votes when it went to the House.

“You know incrementalism? I don’t think it means taking small steps. It means taking the largest step available to you, and so this is the biggest step that I could take this year,” Davidson said.

He was able to work with the people around him to shape the bill into its current form.

“Ideas kind of ebb and flow,” Davidson said. “But you’re sort of working on your legislation always, and so even back home in the district, you might talk with constituents or stakeholders who are interested in it.”

One of Davidson’s constituents, Haley Edwards, a senior at Republic High School, testified in support of the bill at its initial House committee hearing.

“I think it’s really good that we open a healthy conversation,” Edwards said, “we see the signs that tie back to more physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing.”

The Senate Education Committee added a few amendments unrelated to the bill’s original purpose, including provisions involving private school bathroom policies and the presidential fitness test.

Davidson said he knew about the private school amendment but was unaware of the presidential fitness provision before the hearing.

“I think it’s important you don’t marry your legislation,” Davidson said. “You don’t want to be too emotionally attached so that you can be calm and cool and thoughtful about things that happen, especially things that happen outside of your control.”

Davidson said he is unsure if he’d file a similar bill next year because he might have additional responsibilities, including a possible appointment as budget chair.

Still, he said that if he revisits the proposal in a future session, he would likely begin with the broader K-12 version.

After scaling the bill back several times, Davidson said the experience reinforced how unpredictable the legislative process can be.

“I was reminded that it is indeed a difficult process, and it’s full of ups and downs. Davidson said. “There have been several times I thought this bill was dead, and then it wasn’t.”