“Barriers to Fair Play”: How Title
IX has Impacted K-12 Education
Presented by:
Shannon Butler, Deb Ellis and Heather Boyd
EPPL 660
Spring 2008
What is Title IX?
No person in the United States shall,
on the basis of sex, be excluded
from participation in, be denied the
benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any education
program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance…
ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH
ABOUT TITLE IX?
Question
Big Sports High School spent $.5
million within boy’s athletics, and
$.1 million within girl’s athletics.
Is Big Sports High in compliance with
Title IX?
Question
Students in Sum County take the
same quarterly tests in English
each year. The girls scored
20-40% higher than the boys for
three consecutive years.
Is Sum County in compliance with Title IX?
Question
An equal amount of money is
spent on boys’ and girls’
basketball at Big Sports High
School. The band plays at all
home boy’s basketball games.
Is this an issue that involves Title IX?
Unpacking the Law

In 1979, OCR
developed the
Three-Part Test

Schools need to only
meet one of the
prongs to be in
compliance.
Unpacking the Law
1. Males and females
participate in
athletics in numbers
substantially
proportional to their
enrollment numbers.
Unpacking the Law
2. The school has a
history and continuing
practice of program
expansion which is
demonstrably
responsive to the
developing interests
and abilities of
members of the
underrepresented sex.
Unpacking the Law
3. The institution’s
existing programs
fully and effectively
accommodate the
interests and
abilities of the
underrepresented
sex.
Unpacking the Law


Franklin V. Gwinnett County
Public Schools (1992)
- punitive damages
McCormick v. School District of
Mamaroneck (2004) &
Communities for Equity v.
Michagan High School Athletic
Association (2006)
- fair sports seasons
What has Title IX done for high
school athletics?

In 1971-72, the number of girls playing
high school sports was just under
300,000. By the 2005-06 school year,
that number had increased to 2.9
million. (National Federation of State
High School Associations, 2006)
What has Title IX done for
high school athletics?
What has Title IX done for
high school athletics?
Current Inequalities



Girls have nearly 20% fewer opportunities to
participate in high school and college sports
than boys
High school girls have 2,953,355 athletic
participation opportunities, while high school
boys have 4, 206, 549
Women are only 19% of the head coaches
of both women’s and men’s teams. Women
also make up only 35% of athletic
administrators and 19% of athletic directors
Current Issues
Source: National Women’s Law Center
Holt High School, Tuscaloosa, AL
May 2005
Between 2002-2006
Opposition to Title IX


Opponents say its
enforcement regulations
are a blunt instrument
used to kill men’s teams.
The OCR states, “It is
contrary to the spirit of
Title IX for the
government to require or
encourage an institution
to eliminate athletic
teams.”
Opposition to Title IX


A student at Boone County blames a
lawsuit for his soccer team not receiving
new uniforms. He stated, “It’s not right
what they did. They’re trying to take
advantage of the system. It’s awful.”
A school board in Oklahoma had to
renovate the softball fields and make
them equitable with the baseball fields.
The principal stated, “I still don’t feel like
we discriminated against anybody…Title
IX is the law, and we’ve come to
accept…the unfairness of it…We have to
go the legal way even if it’s an
overwhelming burden on the community.”
Recommendations for Administrators







Compliance with the
Three-Part Test
Equal Publicity
Fair Funding
Accommodate Interests
Comparable Facilities &
Resources
Coaches & Salaries
Tutoring, Practices &
Games
Just the Facts!
Here is how you play!
 Read through all four statements.
 Select the one that is a fib.
 Make your selection by going to that
corner of the room.
 Discuss why you selected that answer
with the other people in that group.
Which is the fib?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Girls receive 1,250,000 fewer opportunities
to play high school sports than do boys.
Girls who are not involved in physical
activity by age 10 have only a 10% chance
of being athletic when they are 25.
Physical inactivity is much more common
among females than males.
70% of women identified as key leaders in
Fortune 500 companies participated in
sports while growing up.
Source: Library of Congress, 2007
Which is the fib?
A.
B.
C.
D.
More than 400 men’s sports teams have
been dropped by universities in the Title IX
era, 170 of them in men’s gymnastics.
At the University of Miami there are 2 track
scholarships available for men and 18 for
women.
In 1972, only 7% of law school graduates
were women. By 2002, that number had
risen to 47%.
The majority of litigation regarding Title IX
has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, not the
defendants.
Source: USA Today, 2002.
Which is the fib?
A.
B.
C.
D.
In 1972, Congress enacted Title IX, but
there was no mention at all of athletics.
In 1980, DOE was given oversight of Title
IX through the Office for Civil Rights
(OCR).
In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that
plaintiff’s filing Title IX lawsuits are not
entitled to receive punitive damages.
In 1996, OCR issued clarifications of the
three-part “Effective Accommodation Test”.
Which is the fib?
A.
B.
C.
D.
There were 416 athletics complaints filed with
OCR between January 1, 2002 and December 31,
2006.
Basketball is the sport most sited in complaints
about K-12 athletics.
A basketball coach in western Massachusetts told
parents that the girls practice was shorter than the
boys team practice because girls didn’t have the
attention span or the interest to focus on
basketball for two hours at a time.
In OCR’s Kansas City Office, it took nearly 4.5
years to resolve one complaint and 3.5 years to
resolve another.
Sources: National Women’s Law Center