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The music pulsated loudly throughout Cynthia A. Lins' fifth-grade physical education class Thursday at Spark Matsunaga Elementary School in Germantown.

The lesson of the day was basketball: dribbling, passing, shooting and defensive movements. Then, after a few minutes of activity, the students were asked to check their pulses to determine if they were at least 130 beats per minute.

"140!" shouted one student.

"150!" yelled another.

Besides improving cardiovascular conditioning, the idea, Lins said, was to teach skills students could use in other sports while also applying the lesson to real-life situations. The shooting motion in basketball, for example, also could be used to launch clothes into a laundry basket or throw items into a recycling bin.

Her second-grade class was there to practice how to skip, gallop and walk in different ways. The goal there was to reinforce all the movements students should have by that grade level.

"I liked how we did the competitive shooting," said Sara Cadenhead, 11, a Matsunaga fifth-grader. "I'd like to do it two to three times a week. Now, it's once a week."

Sara's comment is at the center of a debate among local school systems, parents and lawmakers. The backdrop is concern that children aren't getting enough exercise. Health problems brought on by obesity are on the rise nationally.

On Tuesday afternoon, the county school board and Superintendent Jerry D. Weast are scheduled to discuss what physical education classes — as well as music and art classes — are being offered in the school system.

In January, Del. Jay Walker (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington introduced a bill in the General Assembly to mandate at least 90 minutes of gym time a week for kindergarten through eighth grade in all state school systems.

The numbers on physical education offered statewide vary widely, according to data from the Maryland State Department of Education. The Montgomery and Anne Arundel county and Baltimore city school systems offer at least 30 minutes of gym time per week to their elementary school students, the lowest in the state, the data show.

School systems in Frederick, Kent and Howard counties, among others, offer at least 90 minutes of gym time in elementary schools.

In middle schools, however, Montgomery offers 225 minutes of phys ed time per week, tied with Baltimore city and Calvert and Washington counties for third most in the state. The Prince George's system, the state's second largest, leads the state by far in middle school gym minutes with at least 450 per week.

The Queen Anne's school system offers 50 minutes of gym time in middle schools, the lowest in the state. Worcester offers 60 minutes per week.

In February, the school board and Weast voted to oppose the phys ed bill because they did not want lawmakers infringing on school curriculum. While the intent of the bill was worthy, there simply aren't enough days to increase gym time and prepare students for mandated state tests, like the Maryland School Assessments and the High School Assessments, school leaders argued.

‘‘How do you make a schedule to do all this?" Weast asked in February. ‘‘We have just got to be careful. We already got our folks on overload. How we fit this within the time is what I'm worried about."

With Walker's bill as impetus, along with a version filed by Sen. David C. Harrington (D-Dist. 47) of Cheverly, the state legislature created a task force to examine the costs and impact to schools of increasing gym time to 90. The task force is supposed to submit a report to the state Department of Education in November.

"We know that kids are getting bigger," Walker said. "This is something that could approach epidemic proportions."

Childhood obesity among children ages 6 to 11 more than doubled the past 20 years — from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006 — according to data from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. For children 12 to 19, the data more than tripled — from 5 percent to 17.6 percent.

Obese children are more likely than children of normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and are more at risk for adult health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis, according to the national group.

Susan J. Loftus, a physical education teacher at Burning Tree Elementary School in Bethesda, has lobbied the school board to increase gym time for students.

"Please don't let the push for vigor and making [adequate progress] lead you to believe that there is just no time in the school day for more education that is physical," Loftus wrote to the board last October. "Increasing physical education really is not decreasing academic time. Good physical education is not just about raising heart rates and sweating."

In arguing for increased gym time, Walker said that "a release of energy" during school hours also could help boost test scores.

At least in Montgomery, the challenge is to offer enough physical education without sacrificing time for reading, math and social studies, said Mary Theresa McCauley, supervisor of the school system's health education and physical education department.

"I don't know a physical educator who wouldn't want P.E. every day," McCauley said. "Physical activity is so important, but it's just one of six standards we have to implement" in health education, including motor skills and calorie burning, among other things.

Physical education time has even spilled over into the county's political realm.

In March, County Council members Roger Berliner and Valerie Ervin wrote a letter to school board President Nancy Navarro, asking the board to increase the amount of time students spend in phys ed classes.

While they understood the school board's concern, Berliner and Ervin still wanted to discuss the lack of physical education time offered to students. In response, Navarro (Dist. 5) of Silver Spring said that county officials should look at more after-school programs that promote physical activity.

But tell that to Kevin Wang, a fifth-grader in Lins' physical education class. Lins, in calling for her class to regroup in the middle of the basketball court, noticed Wang taking one last shot at the goal.

Asked Kevin, "Is it over?"