((HT: News4Jax/WJXT-TV))
Parents of some high school athletes said a shorter sports season for their children amounts to sex discrimination. Now, a Jacksonville lawyer who was once an Olympic athlete is taking their case to court.
A federal law known as Title IX guarantees equal opportunities for boys and girls taking part in high school and college sports.
A group of upset parents called the Florida Parents For Athletic Equality filed a lawsuit against the Florida High School Athletic Association on Tuesday. The parents claim the organization is favoring high school football over female team sports.
Former gold-medal Olympian Nancy Hogshead-Makar is the group's attorney. She said it's unfair that the FHSAA, which oversees all high school, plans to reduce varsity sports schedules by 20 percent with the exception of football.
She said she's received more calls and letters about the issue than she can count.
"You know those heart-wrenching 15-year-olds who write and say, 'Aren't my volleyball games just as important to me as football games are to the boys?'" Hogshead-Makar said.
She said when she first heard about the cuts she thought it was blatant sex discrimination. She wants to know why all of the girls have to shoulder the burden of the budget cuts while the boys who play football are not forced to sacrifice anything.
"That excludes 36,000 boys from the cuts. The girls are just unfairly burdened in the way that they made these cuts," Hogshead-Makar said.
However, some coaches argue that high school football is one of the few sports that make money and that in many cases the profits from football goes to pay for other sports.
"Most people don’t understand that football sort of takes care of the other sports financially. Most successful programs football wise will use that money to carry all the other sports," said Jackson High School football coach Kevin Sullivan.
Hogshead-Makar said profit is no excuse for discrimination.
"Even if it did make money, that really shouldn’t matter when it comes to school. So, if it's going to be part of a school and if our taxpayers are going to be doing it, then you can't discriminate based on gender or race or religion," said Hogshead-Makar.
A hearing date in court will be set within a couple of weeks, and a judge will decide on the issue. The FHSAA said it has no comment on the issue.
UPDATE: The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors President, Greg Zornes, called for a meeting of the Board of Directors to be held July 15 at 1 p.m.
The agenda for the meeting will be for the purpose of reconsidering the maximum game reduction.
On April 27, the Board of Directors voted to reduce the maximum number of games 20 percent for varsity sports (with the exception of football) and 40 percent for sub-varsity sports (with the exception of football). The FHSAA was made aware of a possible Title IX violation, and in turn, worked diligently to be in compliance with Title IX. Since no compromise could be reached, President Zornes called the July meeting to resolve this situation.
“Although the overriding reason for the reduction was to ease the financial burden on the schools in Florida, it would not help to turn around a have them pay money in legal fees for actions in litigation,” said Executive Director Roger Dearing.
Member schools of the FHSAA pay a fee based upon the schools student population. In addition, each year, all member schools share the financial burden of the previous year’s litigation expenses.
The FHSAA has entered into an agreement with an attorney experienced in Title IX issues.
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