Title Nein is back in the news. This time a group of coaches, parents and others plan to sue the Education Department over how it determines whether high schools are complying with the federal law.
Title IX, passed in 1972, has helped open more academic and sports opportunities for women.
The Associated Press is reporting that attorneys at the Pacific Legal Foundation plan to file the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the American Sports Council, against the Education Department.
There have been other cases filed in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
The ASC was most recently known as the College Sports Council. The ASC is worried that in order to complay with the proportional requirement, schools will put boys sports ont eh chopping block.
“There have been a wave of copy cat complaints (since the NWLC complaint) where hundreds of schools have been challenged on proportionality,” ASC chairman Eric Pearson told Erik Brady of USA Today. “We fear the increased threat of litigation will lead schools to really clamp down on participation numbers (for boys) to achieve a 50-50 balance.”
The American Sports Council wants the court to order the department to stop using the tests.
The Title IX Test:
• Test 1: A school’s male and female athletes are proportionate to enrollment.
• Test 2: A school has a history and continuing practice of expanding opportunities for female students.
• Test 3: A school can demonstrate that the interests and abilities of female students are fully and effectively accommodated.
Education Department spokesman Jim Bradshaw says it’s a “valuable tool” for ensuring a level playing field for all students.
“Title IX applies to high schools and it applies to high school sports programs. The idea that high schools are different because their resources are limited just doesn’t hold up,” Fatima Goss Graves, National Women’s Law Center vice president for education and employment, told USA Today. “Any argument that girls need fewer opportunities in athletics is typically based on stereotypes that girls do not want to play.”
Recall, about four months ago, the NCAA came under fire for “fudging” women’s participation numbers by including players that had graduated and boys that were on the practice squads for women’s teams.
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