Recently, the High School Sports Information Collection Act of 2009 was introduced by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Patty Murray (D-WA).  The bill would require U.S. high schools to disclose a host of information to their state department of education including:

•         Athletic participation figures broken down by gender, race, ethnicity

•         Athletic budgets

•         Sports schedules

•         School coaching staff information

The effort is modeled on the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act which requires colleges to report similar information to the federal government.  From these reports, policymakers are then able to assess Title IX compliance.  Supporters state that the measures encourage greater equity between genders at school but a closer look at Title IX enforcement leaves cause for concern.  

Dangers of the High School Sports Information Collection Act:

At the collegiate level, proportionality is at the heart of Title IX enforcement.  The High School Sports Information Collection Act would open the floodgate for enforcing proportionality at the high school level.  The Title IX proportionality standard acts as a quota for a given school, requiring that the gender ratio of athletes match the gender ratio of the student body.  For example, if the student body of a school is 55% female and 45% male, then 55% of the school's athletes must be women while only 45% of the athletes can be men.  To meet this rigid quota, schools often face tough choices over programming.  Usually, they can add more women's programs or cut existing men's programs.  The path of least resistance is to cut men's programs. 

The result is that some sports, such as men's gymnastics, are on the verge of extinction.  A 2007 College Sports Council study reported that between 1981 and 2005, women's program athletes per school and teams per school rose 34% while male athletes and teams per school decreased by 6% and 17%, respectively. 

The High School Sports Information Collection Act is likely to have an even greater impact considering more students compete in high school athletic programs than collegiate.  And, while opportunities abound for girls, more boys play high school sports than girls.  Considering the headaches caused for colleges by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, why then would legislators desire a similar measure for high schools?

Yes, we should definitely be concerned with issues of equity in education, but there is a difference between getting caught up in a rigid numbers game and creating a level playing field.

All information taken from Proportionality Is Not What High Schools Need, a publication by the Independent Women's Forum, available at iwf.org