BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1349
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Date of Hearing: June 24, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, TOURISM, AND
INTERNET MEDIA
Ian C. Calderon, Chair
SB 1349 (Jackson) - As Amended: May 28, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 29-7
SUBJECT : School athletics: report on competitive athletics
SUMMARY : This bill requires public schools to annually report
specific information regarding participation in competitive
athletics, beginning with the 2015-16 school year.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, commencing with the 2015-16 school year and every
year thereafter, each public elementary and secondary school
in the state that offers competitive athletics to publicly
make available at the end of the school year all of the
following information:
a) The total enrollment of the school, classified by
gender.
b) The number of pupils enrolled at the school who
participate in competitive athletics, classified by gender.
c) The number of boys' and girls' teams, classified by
sport and by competition level.
d) The specified data shall reflect the total number of
players on a team roster on the official first day of
competition.
2)Provides that the school shall post the specified information
on the school's Internet Web site.
3)Requires the materials used by a school to compile the
information specified in subdivision (a) shall be retained by
the school for at least three years after the information is
posted on the Internet.
4)Defines "competitive athletics" to mean sports where the
activity has coaches, a governing organization, and practices,
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and competes during a defined season, and has competition as
its primary goal.
5)Makes various Legislative findings and declarations.
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. (Education Code Section
230).
2)Provides the following three ways an educational institution
may be found to be providing equivalent athletic
opportunities:
a) If interscholastic level participation opportunities for
male and female pupils are provided in numbers
substantially proportionate to their respective
enrollments;
b) If the school district can show a history and continuing
practice of program expansion that is demonstrably
responsive to the developing interest and abilities of the
members of the sex that have been and are underrepresented
among interscholastic athletes; or
c) If the school district can demonstrate that the interest
and abilities of the members of the sex that have been
underrepresented among interscholastic athletes is fully
and effectively accommodated by the present program, where,
in the past, the school district was unable to show a
continuing practice of program expansion.
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." (Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil Rights Act".
Title IX applies to all aspects of educational opportunities,
not just athletics.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS :
1)Author and supporter's statement of need for legislation:
participation data is needed to achieve the goal of gender
equity in sports .
According to the Author, "Girls, particularly girls of color,
receive far fewer opportunities to play sports than boys, as
well as inferior treatment in areas such as equipment,
facilities, coaching, and publicity. Although data on gender
equity in athletics is not as readily available at the
elementary and high school level as it is at the college
level, the available information indicates that discrimination
against girls and young women in athletics is every bit as
much of a problem in elementary and secondary schools as it is
in colleges. SB 1349 begins shining the light on
opportunities, or lack thereof, for girls to participate in
grade and high school athletics. The Author concludes, "We
don't have a lot of facts and statistics regarding compliance
with title IX in K-12 because there is no requirement to
report. NCAA requires reporting so we do have statistics at
the college level; SB 1349 would make similar data available
at the K-12 level."
The Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center supports the bill,
based in part on their belief that "participating in sports
has a profound and lasting positive effect on the future of
girls. Studies show that high school girls involved in team
sports are significantly more likely to graduate from high
school and are more likely to be successful in the workplace.
This is especially true for low-income girls and girls of
color."
American Association of University Women - California, also
writes in support to say, "girls' participation in athletics
in elementary and high school has long been under represented.
Participation in school sports, in addition to its social and
health benefits, provides a greater opportunity for
Californian girls to compete for collegiate athletic
scholarships, reducing the financial burden of higher
education and providing them a more visible field on which to
perform, for those who would go on to play sports
professionally."
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2)Title IX and State enforcement are both dependent on sparse
data .
The federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for
enforcing Title IX, through OCR's responsibility to ensure
that institutions which receive federal education funds comply
with the law. The principal enforcement activity is the
investigation and resolution of complaints filed by people a
violation of Title IX. Current law does not require any
reporting of measures of compliance with Title IX by K-12
schools.
California law does not require any reporting of measures of
compliance with Title IX by K-12 schools either, however AB
2295 (Oropeza, Chapter 1060, 2002) contained uncodified
language that required the California Department of Education
and the California Postsecondary Education Commission to
contract jointly for a one-time report on female participation
in athletics. In 2003, the RMC 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 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.
3)Prior and related legislation .
a) AB 2512 (Bonilla), current session, would add compliance
with Title IX, including the total number of pupils, by
gender, participating in existing after school athletic
programs, to indicators to be included in the Academic
Performance Index. This bill also authorizes, beginning
January 1, 2018, school districts to include this
information in the district's local control accountability
plan as one indicator of school climate. AB 2512 is
pending in the Assembly Education Committee.
b) AB 2323 (Jackson), of 2004 would have required the
California Department of Education to develop a Gender
Equity Compliance Survey for high schools. AB 2323 was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
California Teachers Association
California Women's Law Center (CWLC)
Employment Law Center-Legal Aid Society (ELC-LAS)
Equal Rights Advocates (ERA)
Los Angeles Unified School District
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Dana Mitchell / A.,E.,S.,T. & I.M. /
(916) 319-3450