Schools must report sports equity data
(Calif.) There should be no question about whether girls and boys have equal sports opportunities now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill requiring school districts to track and publicize corroborating data.
Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, all elementary and secondary public schools – including charter schools – must report annually the number of students at the school who participate in competitive athletics, as well as the number of school-sponsored sports teams, broken down by gender.
“For the schools that are complying with Title IX, this bill will provide an opportunity to proudly showcase the equal opportunities being provided to both genders,” Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who authored the legislation, said in a statement. “For those schools that don’t comply, we hope this reporting requirement will ‘sunshine’ that inequity, give parents and schools important information, and become a wake-up call to the school and its community that change is needed.”
Title IX was passed by Congress in 1972 to prohibit sex discrimination in all publically-funded educational institutions. Under the landmark law, no person, on the basis of gender, can be denied participation in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
California state law mirrors Title IX, which requires that schools meet one of three tests to prove compliance:
- Athletic participation of women and girls is proportionate to enrollment.
- The school has a history and continuing practice of program expansion for women or girls.
- The school is fully meeting female athletes’ interests and abilities in its present athletic program. (Title IX under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.)
Enforcement of compliance with the law is initiated upon the filing of a complaint alleging a violation.
Despite great gains having been made in terms of more opportunities for female sports participation, “the level of opportunity for girls still has not reached the level of opportunity for boys that existed when Title IX…was enacted,” the Santa Barbara Democrat wrote in her bill.
According to data reported by Jackson, the number of girls competing in high school sports jumped from under 295,000 when Title X was passed to nearly 3.2 million last year.
There are more women playing collegiate sports – about 200,000 – than ever before, and the number of female athletes at National Collegiate Athletic Association schools has increased from less than 30,000 to over 193,000 since 1972, but women still have more than 60,000 fewer participation Schools must report sports equity data :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: