From CNN.com: As children in America become more and more overweight, physical education programs in public schools are fighting for their life -- and the "No Child Left Behind" academic policies might be to blame.

According to a 2006 study called "Shape of the Nation" (conducted by the American Heart Association and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education), most states' public schools are failing to provide enough physical education for their children. And according to the Center for Disease Control, the number of overweight children has tripled since 1980.

"With the obesity rates going up and it's in our face, why are we cutting P.E. time? I don't get it," says Garrett Lydic, a physical education teacher at North Laurel Elementary School in Laurel, Delaware and his state's Teacher of the Year in 2006. "The focus right now is on testing," he said, referring to a series of academic tests now mandated by federal law. "The result is that there's less time to get kids more active."