BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2512
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, TOURISM, AND
INTERNET MEDIA
Ian C. Calderon, Chair
AB 2512 (Bonilla) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
SUBJECT : Pupil rights: gender equity: after school athletic
programs.
SUMMARY : Authorizes school districts and county offices of
education to include compliance with Title IX in the "school
climate" component of their Local Control and Accountability
Plans (LCAPs) beginning in 2018, and makes a technical
correction to existing law.
EXISTING STATE LAW :
1)Prohibits discrimination based on sex and considers exclusion
from the participation in, or denial of opportunity in
athletic programs as discrimination.
2)Requires each local education agency (LEA) to adopt a LCAP by
July 1, 2014, based on a template to be adopted by the State
Board of Education (SBE) by March 31, 2014.
3)Requires LEAs to update their LCAPs annually and renew them
every three years.
4)Requires each LCAP to identify annual goals and the specific
actions the LEA will take to achieve those goals for all
pupils and each of the following pupils subgroups:
a) Ethnic subgroups;
b) Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils;
c) English learners (ELs);
d) Pupils with disabilities; and
e) Foster youth
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EXISTING FEDERAL LAW 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 or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement and Support : According to the author, "AB
2512 helps to achieve one of the state's priorities: creating
a positive school climate for all students. This bill
redefines how student success and school climate are measured
in our schools by including Title IX compliance in the list of
factors that may be considered in the LCAP. The federal Title
IX law prohibits sex discrimination in all educational
institutions that receive federal funding. While Title IX has
increased female participation in sports, women still remain
underrepresented in athletic programs and receive fewer
resources.
The author notes that, "School climate is currently determined
by pupil suspension and expulsion rates. By including Title
IX compliance as an element of school climate, AB 2512
encourages LEAs to consider Title IX requirements as another
factor to create a positive climate. Providing students with
a harassment free campus and more opportunities to engage in
extracurricular activities will promote greater success for
all students."
The California State University Chico, Center for Nutrition
and Activity write in support, saying, "High school sport
participation is closely linked with student success and
school climate. However girls continue to have fewer
opportunities for team sport participation on high school
sport teams. In the town of Chico California there are 300
more sport team opportunities for boys than there are for
girls offered in the two public high schools. "A civil rights
complaint was recently settled to rectify the situation;
however, they state, "It should not talk two years of focused
effort and an OCR complaint for a school district to finally
take steps to comply with a law that has been on the books
since 1972."
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The Women's Sports Foundation write the committee to share
statistics quoted and shared by many of the bill's supporters,
saying, "The playing field is far from level even 40 years
after the passage of Title IX. At the national high school
level, girls represent roughly 50% of the students but only
42% of student-athletes. Approximately 1.277 million more
boys than girls played high school sports during the 2011-2012
school year." In California, girls lag even further behind
boys in high school athletic participation, with California
schools offering boys four sport opportunities for every three
they offer girls, a difference of 456,663 boys in sports to
325,279 girls given the same opportunity. California is near
the bottom of the nation when it comes to our athletic
opportunity equity gap - 42 other states do a better job in
complying with Title IX."
2)Background:
a) Title IX - Equal Opportunity in Education : Current
federal law provides that, in part, "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." In
order to be in compliance with Federal Title IX, a school
must show compliance with one of these three parts. The
federal tests are:
i) Athletic participation of women and girls is
proportionate to enrollment.
ii) The school has a history and continuing practice of
program expansion for women or girls, or;
iii) The school is fully meeting female athletes'
interests and abilities in its present athletic program.
Current state law establishes standards virtually identical
to those of Federal Title IX, with one modification: in
Test 2, "history" is defined to mean the past two years.
Title IX applies to all aspects of educational
opportunities, not just athletics.
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Enforcement of compliance is initiated upon the filing of a
complaint alleging a violation of Title IX. Current law
does not require any reporting of measures of compliance
with Title IX by K-12 schools.
b) Committee on Arts, Entertainment Sports, Tourism and
Internet Media Oversight Hearing on "California
Interscholastic Federation (CIF): Continuing Title IX
Concerns" : On August 8, 2008, this committee held an
Oversight Hearing into the CIF, and their record as
governance body for California secondary school athletics.
An important aspect of this hearing was exploration of the
ongoing failure of girls' sports to reach parity with
boys'. The Committee heard testimony which included
historic concerns addressed in the seminal California Women
Coaches Academy vs. CIF [(1980) USDC, No. 77-1270 LEW].
The CIF denied all claims, and an important settlement was
reached, which provided in part, "The number of sports,
contests and events available to female athletes shall be
approximately the same number as are available to male
athletes, levels and scheduling of competition shall be
determined without regard to sex of the participating
athletes and athletic facilities shall be made available
without regard to the sex of the participant athlete."
(Id.) In order to enforce this settlement, the SDE agreed
to oversee enforcement. The committee heard testimony that
this state oversight was substantially negated when the CIF
took over governance of the state's interscholastic
activities with the passage of SB 19 (Campbell), Chapter
1001, Statutes of 1981, which became law over the concerns
of many who felt the CIF could not self-police on this
issue.
In order to monitor compliance and provide oversight, the
CIF was required to appear before the Legislature for
Sunset Review hearings. Despite these efforts, the
committee heard testimony that inequities continue to
exist.
In addition to Sunset Review, AB 2295 (Oropeza), Chapter
1060, Statutes of 2002, contained uncodified language that
required the CDE and the California Postsecondary Education
Commission to contract jointly for a one-time report on
female participation in athletics. In 2003, the RMC
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Research Corporation's independent report "Title IX
Athletics Compliance at California's Public High Schools,
Community Colleges, and Universities" revealed that of the
125 high schools that returned surveys, only 26% were in
compliance with Title IX based on proportionality, defined
as having participation rates that were within five
percentage points of the enrollment rates for each gender.
One of the recommendations of the report was to require
high schools to report athletics data annually and to
ensure a monitoring process for Title IX.
The CIF, for their part, stated that they strongly support
both girls' and boys' sports, and have always attempted to
be fair and even in their treatment. To buttress their
position, in 2004-05 the CIF created a Title IX Equity
Complaints and Appeal Process and established a 22 member
expert group which is available to assist member schools,
leagues and sections with questions regarding Title IX
compliance.
c) Local Control and Accountability Plan : To ensure
accountability for LCFF funds, the state mandated that
school districts, charter schools, and county offices of
education adopt and update a LCAP. The LCAP must include
locally determined goals, actions, services, and
expenditures of LCFF funds for each school year in support
of the state educational priorities that are specified in
statute, as well as any additional local priorities. In
adopting the LCAP, LEAs must consult with parents,
students, teachers, and other school employees.
The eight state priorities that must be addressed in the
LCAP, for all students and significant student subgroups in
a school district and at each school, are:
i) Williams settlement issues (adequacy of credentialed
teachers, instructional materials, and school
facilities).
ii) Implementation of academic content standards.
iii) Parental involvement.
iv) Pupil achievement (in part measured by statewide
assessments, Academic Performance Index, and progress of
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English-language learners toward English proficiency).
v) Pupil engagement (as measured by attendance,
graduation, and dropout data).
vi) School climate (in part measured by suspension and
expulsion rates).
vii) The extent to which students have access to a broad
course of study, and;
viii) Pupil outcomes for non-state-assessed courses of
study.
School district LCAPs are subject to review and approval by
county offices of education. Statute established a process
for districts to receive technical assistance related to their
LCAPs. The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) is
authorized to intervene in a struggling district, under
certain conditions.
3)Prior and Related Legislation :
a) SB 1349 (Jackson), requires public schools to report
specific information regarding participation in competitive
athletics, beginning with the 2015-16 school year and
biennially thereafter. SB 1349 is currently pending in
Senate Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 685 (Davis), of the 2009-10 Legislative Session,
would have required the School Facilities Planning Division
of the CDE to include, as part of its review of an
application for new construction plan approval, a
determination of whether the proposed project would comply
with federal law prohibiting discrimination in educational
programs or activities on the basis of sex. AB 685 was
vetoed.
c) AB 2323 (Jackson), of the 2003-04 Legislative Session,
would have required the CDE to develop a Gender Equity
Compliance Survey for high schools. AB 2323 was held in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 2512
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Support
California Federation of Teachers
California National Organization for Women
California School Boards Association
California Women's Law Center
Center for Nutrition and Activity, CSU-Chico
Consumers Attorneys of California
Equal Rights Advocates
Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Women's Sports Foundation
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Dana Mitchell / A.,E.,S.,T. & I.M. /
(916) 319-3450