While officials in Richmond and Washington often speak of the inherent ills of unfunded mandates, they rarely do anything about the problem … aside from drafting more legislation that requires counties, cities and towns to fork up the money for some new pet project.

Last week, Gov. McDonnell did something other than give the problem lip service. In his first veto in office, he struck down a bill that would have required an average of 150 minutes a week of physical education time for students in grades K through eight across the commonwealth.

The bill, in and of itself, is laudable. Children (and adults, for that matter) are far too sedentary and would benefit from an exercise regimen. It was introduced in the General Assembly by Sen. Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist who has seen the consequences of childhood obesity in his practice. There is no disputing the altruistic motivation behind this effort, nor is there any doubt that children could use more physical activit...