Attention Virginia students: the state Senate wants to get you healthier.

The Virginia Senate, on a 37-2 vote, approved a bill on Tuesday that would require local school boards to offer 150 minutes of physical education per week for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

“It’s really designed to combat an epidemic we have in our commonwealth and across the nation” of childhood obesity, said the bill’s sponsor, Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk.

Sen. William Wampler, R-Wise, said he recalled President Kennedy and President Johnson’s physical fitness challenges to kids.

“It engaged the class,” he said. “We were happy to go out on the playground and we were happy to participate.”

Local school boards also would have a goal of implementing a similar program for high school students.

A similar bill is still moving through the House. If implemented, the Senate bill would take effect during the 2014-2015 school year.