BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1349
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Date of Hearing: June 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 1349 (Jackson) - As Amended: May 28, 2014
[Note: This bill was double referred to the Arts, Entertainment,
Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee and was heard by
that committee as it relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SENATE VOTE : 29-7
SUBJECT : School athletics: information relating to competitive
athletics.
SUMMARY : Requires schools, beginning in the 2015-16 school year,
to publish annually on their Internet websites data related to
participation in competitive sports, as specified; and requires
schools to maintain the materials used to compile the data for
three years after publication on the school's website.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, beginning in the 2015-16 school year, each public
elementary and secondary school that offers competitive
athletics, as defined, to publish annually at the end of the
school year on its Internet website, the following
information:
a) Total enrollment of the school, classified by gender;
b) Number of pupils enrolled at the school who participate
in competitive athletics, classified by gender; and
c) Number of boys' and girls' teams, classified by sport
and competition level.
2)Specifies that the information compiled shall reflect the
total number of players on a team roster on the official first
day of competition.
3)Requires schools to maintain the materials used by the school
to compile the information for at least three years after it
is published on the Internet website.
4)Defines the term "competitive athletics" as used in the bill,
to mean sports activities that have all of the following
characteristics:
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a) Coaches;
b) A governing organization;
c) Practices;
d) Competition during a defined season; and
e) Competition as the primary goal of the activity.
5)Makes findings and declarations related to the participation
of girls and women in competitive athletics.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW :
1)Requires, pursuant to Title IX (20 U.S.C. �� 1681-1686) 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
is a broad prohibition on gender-based discrimination in
education programs receiving federal assistance.
2)Requires that in order for school athletic programs to be in
compliance with Title IX, they must satisfy one of three
tests:
a) Athletic participation of women and girls is
substantially proportionate to enrollment.
b) The school has a history and continuing practice of
program expansion for women or girls.
c) The school is fully meeting female athletes' interests
and abilities in its present athletic program. (HEW Final
Policy Interpretation, "Title IX and Intercollegiate
Athletics" 44 Fed. Reg. 71413, et seq. (1979).)
EXISTING STATE LAW prohibits the use of public funds for school
athletic programs that do not provide equal opportunities to
male and female athletes (Education Code � 221.7) and codifies
the above three-prong test for Title IX compliance contained in
federal policy interpretation (Education Code � 230(d).)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee: "Reporting and posting: Minor and absorbable costs
for individual schools to report athletics program information
to their respective websites."
COMMENTS : Title IX compliance . In 2012 a federal judge,
finding that plaintiffs filing on behalf of a high school girls'
basketball team for unequitable conditions had a legal basis to
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proceed against their public school system under Title IX
stated, "Although Title IX has gone a long way in increasing the
status and respect for female athletes, discrimination endures.
Title IX has not ended the long history of discrimination
against females in sport programs; many educational institutions
continue to place male sport programs in a position of
superiority." (Parker v. Franklin County Community School Corp.,
667 F.3d 910 (7th Circuit, 2012).)
According to a 2004 report commissioned by the California
Postsecondary Education Commission and the California Department
of Education, "the majority of high schools [surveyed] did not
have proportional rates of participation for boys and girls?In
addition to having greater numbers of male participants, high
schools on average had a greater number of varsity teams for
boys than for girls." The report contains several
recommendations to increase compliance with Title IX at both the
K-12 and the collegiate levels. One of the recommendations
specific to K-12 competitive sports is, "The California
Legislature should require that public high schools report
athletics data annually (a) to ensure an efficient process for
monitoring Title IX compliance and analyzing schools' progress
at the state level and (b) to increase districts' and schools'
awareness of issues and guide administrators in making
improvements." ("Title IX Athletics Compliance at California's
Public High Schools, Community Colleges and Universities,"
2004.)
Arguments in support. 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? After 40 years of Title IX, there are still schools
out of compliance and still students and families who are
unfamiliar with their rights. This bill seeks to begin to change
that."
Applies to charter schools ? While any charter school receiving
federal funding and offering competitive athletics is subject to
the mandates and prohibitions of Title IX, charter schools are
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exempt from most of the state Education Code (Education Code �
47610). The committee may wish to consider whether the data
collection efforts required by this bill should also take place
in California's charter schools and whether to amend the bill to
explicitly apply the requirements to charter schools that offer
competitive athletics.
Challenges with public posting . Given that some schools
offering competitive athletics may not maintain their own
websites, the committee may wish to consider an amendment to
allow for posting of the data on the website of the school
district, if the school site does not maintain its own website.
The district would only be required to post the data in the
event that the school does not maintain its own website, but
would be required to keep the data in its disaggregated form.
The individual school site would remain responsible for
retaining the information and documentation used to produce the
data that is made available to the public.
Committee amendments . Staff recommends the following committee
amendments:
1) Clarify the language of the bill to specify its
applicability to charter schools that offer competitive
athletics.
2) Specify that the data required to be collected shall be
posted on the school district's website, if the individual
school does not maintain its own website.
Related legislation :
AB 2512 (Bonilla), currently on Senate Third Reading file,
authorizes, beginning January 1, 2018, school districts and
county offices of education to include information relative to
compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
(Title IX) gender equity in the "school climate" category of
local control and accountability plans.
Previous legislation :
SB 107 (Price) Chapter 230, Statutes of 2011, extended the
sunset for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to
have responsibility for administering high school
interscholastic athletics to January 1, 2022; and, required CIF
to report to the Legislature and Governor by January 1, 2017 and
January 1, 2021 on several specified goals and objectives, such
as effectiveness of the governance structure, gender equity,
health and safety, and economic viability.
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AB 322 (Oropeza) Chapter 386, Statutes of 2005, required the CDE
to post on its website, by July 1, 2006, in both English and
Spanish, information in the federal regulations implementing
Title IX. The CDE is authorized to use a list of specific
rights that are based on Title IX regulations as a source for
the information for the website.
AB 2323 (Jackson) from 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.
AB 833 (Steinberg) Chapter 660, Statutes of 2003, established
state standards substantially similar to those of Federal Title
IX.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Association of University Women-California
American Civil Liberties Union of California
California Teachers Association
California Women's Law Center
The Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Diana Glick and Chelsea Kelley / ED. /
(916) 319-2087