Title IX was designed in part to balance the scales for girls and boys in school-based athletics. Some day, maybe it will.But nearly 50 years after Congress passed the sweeping law that guarantees equity in “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance,” including high school athletics, girls are stuck in an imperfect system that continues to favor boys in many ways.
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No one is keeping tabs on the high schools. Title IX, passed in 1972, guarantees that all institutions that receive federal funding must provide equal opportunities, facilities, and supplies to students regardless of their gender. In athletics, that means that for every position on a team available to a boy, there must be a position for a girl. Since the passage of Title IX, girls’ participation in varsity high school sports has increased tenfold, to almost 3 million players.
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I was a shy 17-year-old student when my teammates and I signed on to what would become the Cohen v. Brown University landmark Title IX case.We just wanted to play sports. We didn’t know that our case would end up being appealed to the Supreme Court, setting a precedent nationwide, and that our testimonies would create the opportunity for so many future female athletes to compete at the collegiate, high school and recreational levels.
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This resource is designed by the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the U.S. Department of Education(“Department”) to help K-12 school communities (“schools”), including students, parents, coaches,athletic directors, and school officials, evaluate whether a school is meeting its legal duty to provideequal athletic opportunity based on sex consistent with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972(“Title IX”) and the Title IX regulations.1
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Evaluation of Component I – whether the school is providing adequate sports participation opportunities to the girls enrolled at the institution – first requires application of the “three-prong test.” An institution can demonstrate compliance by showing any one of three alternative criteria: 1) substantial proportionality, 2) a history and continuing practice of expanding sports participation opportunities for girls, or 3) full and effective accommodation of the athletics interests of the girls enrolled at the school.
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Enforcement of Title IX largely relies on students and parents to report unfair treatment or unequal athletic opportunities, but many poll respondents expressed reluctance to speak up about potential violations.
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When girls see that they’re getting worse treatment, their options include challenging their coach or principal, filing a lawsuit or lodging a complaint with the federal Education Department — all daunting for a teenager and their family. When parents step forward to report, they’re often at the center of disputes that can roil their child’s school.
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Parents and alumni often raise money through booster clubs to support specific teams or sports, resulting in more money going to those teams. Sometimes outside organizations fund facilities or other aspects of a school’s athletic program. Availability of this non-school funding is not an excuse for discrimination. Where booster clubs or other outside groups assist only boys’ teams, the school is responsible for making sure that the girls’ teams receive equivalent benefits and services.
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District Solicitor Michael Kristofco explained the reason the guidelines are needed, saying several area districts have been hit with Title IX violation complaints. During a Title IX audit, “if they find a disparity for benefits provided to one gender as opposed to another,” the district would be in violation. He used an example of a booster club paying for a lavish scoreboard for the boys football team while a girls lacrosse team had no such largess. The district needs to know how much money each booster club is giving so that it can make up the difference for teams for the other gender since it is legally responsible to ensure it provides proportional facilities.
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Public elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities that receiveFederal funding (collectively “schools”), have a responsibility under Title IX to provide equal athletic opportunities to all students, regardless of sex. Title IX requires schools to effectively accommodate the athletic interests and abilities of their students, regardless of sex, and provide equal opportunity in the benefits, opportunities, and treatment provided for their athletic teams. The law also requires that colleges and universities must not discriminate on the basis of sex in the provision of any athletic scholarships and financial assistance to students.
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Throughout the U.S. there is a wide variety of different high school athletics for students to choose from. From football and basketball all the way to lacrosse and swim, this broad set of options allows all students to find a sport that they could possibly be interested in. However, all these sports teams also have to be paid for in some way. This creates an issue we see so much nowadays: funding.
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The average child today spends less than three years playing a sport, quitting by age 11, according to a 2019 survey by Project Play with the Utah State University’s Families in Sports Lab. To keep them in the game, many parents are opening their checkbooks. In 2022, the average youth sports parent spent $883 on one child’s primary sport per season, according to a survey by Project Play and Utah State. The annual survey by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) in 2021 found that 24% of kids ages 6 to 12 from homes with $25,000 or less played sports on a regular basis, compared to 40% of kids from $100,000+ homes (State of Play 2022 report).
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Through the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and the Legal Network for Gender Equity, which are both administered by National Women’s Law Center Fund, we connect people facing sex harassment and other forms of sex discrimination in education, the workplace, and when getting health care with legal assistance.
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June 23, 2017 was the 45th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, a broadly written prohibition on gender discrimination in educational institutions, which although applicable to all programs and activities, curricular and extracurricular, offered by high schools and colleges, is best known for its application to sports. The imprecise guidance provided by the mere 37 words of the original statute resulted in the issuance over the next 4½ decades of a series of implementing regulations designed to clarify the obligations of school districts and universities to those the law was intended to protect, including students – regulations that made it clear that although Title IX does apply to athletic programs, it also pertains to safeguarding the rights of students in a wide range of educational settings.
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Enacted in 1972, Title IX is a federal civil rights law that applies to educational institutions that receive federal funding, including K-12 and post-secondary public, private, and charter schools in the United States.  There are some exceptions, such as military schools and private religious schools.Title IX prohibits these institutions from denying benefits or treating students differently based on their sex.  It was passed to ensure all students had the same rights and abilities to learn and participate in educational programming, regardless of gender or sex.
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When Title IX was signed into law 50 years ago, sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs officially became illegal.In the decades since, there have been many debates over what Title IX means, to whom it applies, and what it encompasses. As The Inquirer tells Philadelphia’s Title IX stories, here’s everything to know about Title IX
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Fifty years ago, Title IX banned discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs. Advocates say it's been a fight to make sure girls and women get the opportunities promised.
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State College Area School District has hired a Philadelphia-area law firm to conduct a Title IX audit of district athletics programs amidst a lawsuit over its handling of opportunities for girls to play on the middle school hockey club team.Parents of three students filed the lawsuit in August after no girls were selected to play on the co-ed middle school team, which operated under the direction of a booster group, and no other accommodations were made, despite a series of proposals. A federal judge ruled in a December preliminary injunction that “the plaintiffs have not been given the opportunity to which they are afforded under Title IX,” ordering the district to roster the girls on a team and to create a second team if necessary.
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Over 3.4 million girls participate in High School Athletics every year. This participation is fueled by the flagship legislation for girls’ participation, Title IX. The NFHS has developed this Title IX course to help interscholastic professionals know the history and impact of Title IX and understand the responsibilities of a school and staff pertaining to girls athletic programs. This course discusses the standards at which Title IX compliance is evaluated and breaks down the factors involved in supporting girls programs.
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According to the Title IX regulations, “Each recipient shall designate at least one employee to coordinate its efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under this part, including any investigation of any complaint communicated to such recipient alleging its noncompliance with this part, or alleging any actions which would be prohibited by this part.” 34 CFR 106.8 (a).This employee is generally referred to as the Title IX coordinator. This position must not be left vacant, and all students and employees must be notified of the Title IX coordinator’s contact information.
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Girls and women's sports participation has risen dramatically nationwide. In Pennsylvania high schools, the amount of women coaching female sports teams has surged throughout the commonwealth. The number of female high school athletic directors also has been climbing, although there is still a large disparity in the amount of male ADs.
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