In October, a settlement was agreed to in Shields v. Lauderdale County School District (Mississippi), a Title IX lawsuit filed in April 2017 by the parents of two softball-playing daughters at West Lauderdale High School complaining of numerous inequities between the benefits flowing to the school’s baseball team and those accruing to the softball team. As is typical of same-sport-inequities Title IX disputes across the country, the district attempted to defend itself by arguing that the financial resources responsible for the differences in facilities, equipment, access to quality coaching, travel opportunities and marketing support were not funds from the athletic programs budget, but were provided by outside sources, in this case the baseball team’s booster club.
However, as has repeatedly been ruled by both the federal courts and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (the federal agency charged with enforcing Title IX), schools are responsible for remedying inequities regardless of the source of the financial resources that created the differences, including outside funding from booster clubs, donors, fundraisers and corporate sponsors. The 16-page consent decree finalizing the settlement includes a detailed listing of all the improvements that will be made by the district to the softball program and a timetable for the implementation of those changes.
However, as has repeatedly been ruled by both the federal courts and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (the federal agency charged with enforcing Title IX), schools are responsible for remedying inequities regardless of the source of the financial resources that created the differences, including outside funding from booster clubs, donors, fundraisers and corporate sponsors. The 16-page consent decree finalizing the settlement includes a detailed listing of all the improvements that will be made by the district to the softball program and a timetable for the implementation of those changes.