BILL ANALYSIS
AB 685
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 685 (Davis) - As Amended: April 22, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:8-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the School Facilities and Planning Division
of the State Department of Education (SDE) to determine, as part
of its review of an application for new construction approval
and with respect to athletics-related facilities only, whether
the proposed project complies with the federal Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable GF costs to the SDE to comply with this
measure.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Title IX provides that 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 educational program of activity
receiving Federal financial assistance.
Existing law prohibits public funds from being used in
connection with any athletic program conducted by a school
district governing board, or any student organization within
the district, that does not provide equal opportunity to both
sexes for participation and for use of facilities. Statute
defines facilities and participation to include equipment and
supplies, scheduling of games and practice time, compensation
for coaches, travel arrangements, per diem, locker rooms, and
medical facilities.
AB 685
Page 2
The Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and
Internet Media held an informational hearing on the California
Interscholastic Federation in August 2008. At this hearing,
Elizabeth Kristen, representing the Legal Aid
Society-Employment Law Center and the California Women's Law
Center, testified that "A common practice has schools building
new sports facilities for boys and leaving girls to play at
sub-standard athletic venues. Even when new facilities are
built for boys and girls, girls' facilities are not as nice as
those provided to the boys."
This bill requires the SDE's School Facilities and Planning
Division to determine whether school facilities projects are
in compliance with Title IX, as specified.
2)Current law requires a local educational agency to first
obtain approval on its school facilities plans from the SDE
for eligibility of state school construction bond funds.
According to SDE's Guide to School Size and Development
Handbook (2000), "To ensure compliance with gender equity laws
(Education Amendments of 1972, Title IX), the SDE conducted a
study of the adequacy of playfield areas that were planned and
constructed under the Department's guidelines until the
present. The study involved a sample of high schools
throughout the state stratified by size; geographic location;
and urban, suburban, and rural areas."
"About two-thirds of the school districts surveyed reported
that their field areas were inadequate to accommodate women's
team sports. Smaller schools were usually able to offer equal
access by scheduling and overlapping the use of playfields,
but larger schools that scheduled two or three levels of
softball (freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity) needed
additional playfield space."
"As a result of that study, an additional field area for
grades nine through twelve has been added in this current
edition. The added area includes a combined softball/soccer
field (260 feet by 260 feet) and a combined softball/touch
football/soccer field (260 feet by 460 feet). Together with
the percentage factor for layout, this configuration will add
1.4 to 3.4 acres to playfield areas, depending on the
enrollment and the particular grade levels involved."
AB 685
Page 3
3)Title IX Athletics Compliance at California's Public High
Schools, Community Colleges, and Universities , a 2004 report
by RMC Research Corporation and prepared for the California
Postsecondary Education Commission and the SDE, determined
that locker rooms, practice, competitive facilities and
training facilities/services had no apparent gender
disparities.
Specifically, the report states "high schools rated the
quality and availability of their locker rooms, practice
facilities, and competition facilities as adequate or very
good. Analyses revealed two statistically significant
differences: respondents rated both the quality of locker
rooms and the quality of practice facilities to be poorer on
average for boys than girls. These differences are largely the
result of low ratings for the quality of locker rooms and
practice facilities for football. When the evaluators excluded
football from the analyses, no significant differences between
boys' and girls' teams emerged."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081