Girls Challenge Florida Sports Cuts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (CN) The Florida High School Athletic Association violated Title IX and the Constitution by enacting “Rule 6” on April 27, which exempts only boys football from statewide cuts in school sports program, parents of girls at five Florida schools say in Federal Court.     The defendant’s Rule 6 reduced the maximum number of competitions a school can schedule by 20 percent for varsity teams, and by 40 percent for subvarsity teams, exempting only football, “the sport in which most boys participate,” the complaint states. Plaintiffs say the state “ostensibly” exempted competitive cheerleading from the cuts, but “the OCR [Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare] has refused to certify cheerleading as a sport for purposes of Title IX in the state of Florida. Moreover … neither FHSAA nor its member schools operate competitive cheerleading in a manner that would qualify it as a varsity, competitive sport under established DOE [Department of Education] guidelines.”     Plaintiffs say Rule six exempts “nearly 32,000 more boys than girls from its new competitive reductions.” They demand an expedited hearing, an injunction and costs. They are represented by Wayne Hogan with Terrell Hogan.