Proposed Legislation Would Increase HS Title IX Compliance

Last week Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine introduced the High School Sports Information Collection Act (S. 518), a bill that would require the government to keep statistics on secondary school athletic programs, including the gender and racial breakdown of participants and teams' respective budgets.

At the same time, a similar bill called the High School Athletics Accountability Act (H.R. 901) was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York. This bill would amend Title IX to require schools to disclose information regarding the number and gender of their athletic participants and the budgets for girls and boys teams.

In 1996 Congress passed a similar measure for colleges and universities. The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act requires postsecondary schools subject to Title IX to disclose statistics on athletic participation, including gender breakdown of participants and budgetary inforamtion. The reported data, which are publically available on the Department of Education's website, greatly enhance the public's awareness of Title IX violations and compliance.

The AAUW's website has a handy form that anyone can use to urge members of Congress to support this pending legislation that would extend such disclosure requirements to high schools.