FHSAA Rescinds High School Game Cuts

((HT: WSVN-TV))

The Florida High School Athletic Association on Wednesday backed off schedule cuts designed to help districts cope in the sour economy, saying they did not want to pass along the costs of a legal challenge to member schools.

The group's board of directors voted 15-0 to rescind amendments to the policy that cut the number of varsity games by 20 percent and all other play by 40 percent through the 2010-11 school year. Football was spared from the sweeping game reductions, an exemption that led to a lawsuit from a group of parents.

The parents sued in federal court in June, alleging the schedule changes unfairly hurt female student athletes. The suit claims the changes violated Title IX, the federal law that requires schools offer equal athletic opportunities to men and women.

The FHSAA, the state's governing body for high school athletics, counts 748 schools as members, according to its Web site. Because those schools would have paid for the lawsuit, board members felt it was best to abandon the policy.

"There's an old saying that says the juice is not worth the squeeze," FHSAA executive director Roger Dearing said.

Competitive cheerleading was also not included, but it does not have a regular season, only a state championship.

"This needs to be a teachable moment. This cannot be, 'We were right but we're doing this just to avoid litigation costs,"' said Nancy Hogshead-Makar, who is representing the group of parents in the lawsuit. "That really troubles me."

A hearing on the case is scheduled for Friday. Although the cuts were rescinded, Hogshead-Makar said she expects the hearing to continue as planned.

"Nobody said 'Oh we're sorry' or 'We see the light now,' or 'This is a violation of gender equity.' The only thing that has made a difference for them is a lawsuit," she said. "So because of that, we need to make sure that the judge comes in and still has jurisdiction over the case. We'll make sure that they don't, in the future, go and change their mind again."

Dearing said the FHSAA had hoped to spend no more than $25,000 on the lawsuit, and the schedule cuts were expected to save "in the millions of dollars." He said the organization was merely trying to help financially beleaguered members during the national economic downturn, and its decision in April was the right choice at the time.

"I think the hearts of the board and staff were pure," Dearing said.

Mark Alexander, an attorney who evaluated the case for the FHSAA, told the board Wednesday that he thought the cuts were sound. However, the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the lawsuit Tuesday, concluding that it had a chance of success.

Eight girls and 40,456 boys played football during the 2008-09 season, according to participation statistics. Football was the most popular high school sport in the state -- track and field had the second-highest participation rate with 15,879 boys and 12,839 girls -- but football players compete in the fewest number of games during their 11-week season.