SJR8 Summary

• Urges school administrators, teachers, parents, and students to be educated about health risks from heavy backpacks and take proactive measures to prevent injury.

• Recommends backpacks weigh no more than 10 percent of a child's body weight, noting studies show increased spine curvature and compressed intervertebral height when this limit is exceeded.

• Cites U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data showing more than 7,000 emergency room visits annually for backpack-related injuries and nearly 28,000 treated cases of strains, sprains, dislocations, and fractures in 2010 alone.

• Recommends schools use ergonomic backpacks with padded straps, encourage dual-shoulder carrying, leave heavy textbooks at school, and consider transitioning to e-textbooks when federal and state funding becomes available.

• Directs schools to work with parent-teacher organizations to assess overweight backpack use and implement integrated classroom education using hanging scales to track and reduce backpack weight.