Proportionality test
The proportionality test is a three-part test first adopted under Title IX by the Carter Administration and then expanded by the Clinton Administration, which seeks to apply gender quotas to school sports. The test consists of counting the number of male and female participants on the school sports teams, and holds that schools are in compliance with Title IX if they:
- have the same proportion of girls in sports as enrolled in the school,
- are expanding the opportunities for girls in sports, or
- are satisfying the entire interest of girls to participate in sports.
But when a school needs to cut sports teams for budgetary reasons and cannot provide additional sports for girls, then prongs (2) and (3) of the test cannot be satisfied. In that case the school must meet the quota requirement of (1), thereby causing it to eliminate many more boys teams than girls teams in order to make the proportional representation. James Madison University recently did precisely that, cutting far more boys teams than girls teams in order to meet Title IX's requirement for access for both boys and girls.
Many seek to apply the proportionality test fully to high schools.[1]
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