Copyright 2001 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company  
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
July 2, 2001 Monday
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 3

LENGTH: 1129 words

HEADLINE: Enforcing the law varies by state;
Some states have 'companion laws'

BYLINE: By Sheila Mulrooney Eldred; Staff writer

BODY:
Sue Sattel visits 15 or so schools a year to make sure they're in compliance with federal and state laws. But her job doesn't involve checking lesson plans or inspecting buildings.

Sattel looks at locker rooms and sports equipment. She scrutinizes game times and cheerleading schedules.

Sattel is a gender equity specialist at Minnesota's Department of Children, Families and Learning. She makes sure the state's schools comply with Title IX.

Across the country, the degree to which states enforce Title IX varies considerably. Minnesota, Florida and Washington are at the forefront of Title IX issues. Along with at least 10 other states, they have passed "companion laws" that supplement the federal Title IX law.

Those laws, which usually give the state Department of Education the same enforcement power as the Office for Civil Rights, do not ensure that a state meets compliance standards. But passing such a law indicates a state is taking interest in providing gender equity for students.

"I think the companion law must make a difference," Sattel said. "Everyone has the federal law, and as you've seen, we're one of the best. The state law permits us to levy a penalty. That makes it stronger, and because we are closer to the athletic public, the school districts know we can come out and monitor. We're here, not in Washington or Chicago."

The Louisiana Legislature never has proposed a companion law.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the private organization that governs interscholastic athletics, says it has little authority to become involved in gender equity.

The LHSAA's primary responsibility is organizing state championship events.

Legal responsibility for keeping Louisiana schools in Title IX compliance falls to the Department of Education.

"Schools would have to give us that authority (for gender equity)," LHSAA commissioner Tommy Henry said. "We don't govern local school boards. If we have a rule that's too difficult to enforce, they'll let us know. If every school system had to have 10 football coaches at least, they'd let us know we can't do that. We can only do what schools agree to do. All the authority we get, we get from schools."

Like most athletic associations, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the LHSAA steers clear of monitoring gender equity, saying that Title IX is the province of its member institutions, the state Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights.

"Most of their work is the encouragement factor," said Bob Kennedy, executive director.

But a Supreme Court ruling may drag state athletic associations into an enforcement role. The court ruled four months ago that the associations are "state actors" -- meaning, like its member schools, the LHSAA could be sued for failing to comply with Title IX. Already a lawsuit is pending against the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

Henry said he doesn't believe his organization has anything to worry about. Based on the low number of lawsuits and complaints, Henry said he assumes most schools are in compliance.

"But I wouldn't be naive enough to say all our schools are in compliance," he said.

Most likely, they aren't, according to Sattel. The LHSAA offers 23 sports: 12 for boys, 11 for girls. Although that total is almost equal, it's almost impossible to meet the proportionality standard of Title IX with fewer sports for girls than boys, Sattel said. That's because football teams have so many members.

"If anything, they're going to have to go to more sports for girls than boys to get the opportunities up," Sattel said.

But Henry said more sports aren't offered because the needs of girls are being met. Those who don't play aren't interested, he said.

And, if a girl wants to play a sport that isn't offered for females, the LHSAA allows her to join the boys team.

"I know what Title IX says," Henry said. "You're supposed to go out and drag people in. But what if we wanted to start girls lacrosse, we had a call-out, and nobody showed up? I am limited to my student body. College has the whole world. We don't have that. I'm sure it doesn't fit into Title IX, but we can't make schools add sports."

In Minnesota, there was a clear need to add more sports.

A 1990 study found that 259 of 434 Minnesota school districts offered fewer sports for girls than boys. At the same time, schools were turning down girls interested in soccer, softball and hockey because teams were full.

"We weren't anywhere near equal," Sattel said. "It was pretty out of whack."

Today, at more than 50 percent of Minnesota schools, the number of girls participating in sports is proportionate to enrollment.

Much of the improvement stems from that 1990 study, when the state published a list of schools that weren't in compliance, Sattel said. That's when state officials decided to begin enforcing its companion law, passed in 1975.

Now, schools have begun calling Sattel when they decide to renovate gyms or build a baseball field to make sure the plans meet state standards.

"It's a better use of funds to get ahead of the lawsuits and spend the money on the program than to be fighting the law," she said.

Elsewhere, parents have resorted to the courts to effect change. In Oklahoma, one law firm has successfully prosecuted 14 school districts for failure to comply with Title IX.

"Every one has been settled with the plaintiffs as the prevailing party, and every one of the settlements resulted in the construction of facilities or adding sports," said Ray Yasser, a professor of sports law at the University of Tulsa who prosecuted the cases, along with Sam Schiller. "We've gone district by district and sought injunctive release. We're not going after money; we're asking districts to get themselves into compliance."

In Washington, gender equity specialist Darcy Lees says the key is ensuring that information reaches every high school superintendent, principal and athletics director.

"So much of the focus is from the state level," she said. "Does the information get down?"

In Louisiana, positions like Lees' and Sattel's do not exist.

It's especially important to educate people at the high school level, experts say, because there is no high school equivalent of the Equity Disclosures Act, a law that requires colleges to disclose gender equity data.

In the early 1990s, Congress stopped appropriating funds for gender equity education specialists. Most states promptly dropped the position. According to federal regulations, every state department of education is still required to appoint someone to provide technical assistance with Title IX issues. But, according to the Louisiana Department of Education, there is no such person on staff.

GRAPHIC: STAFF FILE PHOTO BY TED JACKSON Representatives of schools in the LHSAA meet often, but the organization has little authority to become involved in gender equity matters, according to its officials.

LOAD-DATE: July 3, 2001