This spring and summer, in order to assist schools facing severe budget cuts, many state high school associations debated whether to decrease the maximum number of contests its teams could play. Florida was one state that mandated a large reduction, cutting 20 percent of regular season games for all varsity sports except football for the next two years.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Board of Directors, which approved the measure 9-6 in April, believed the schedule cuts were necessary to keep teams from being completely dropped by some school districts. However, they ran into a huge roadblock by exempting football from the schedule reductions.
A group called Florida Parents for Athletic Equity, led by former Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar, decided to file a Title IX lawsuit against the FHSAA. They believe it is inequitable to leave one boys' sports schedule intact and not do the same for at least one girls' sport. Florida did not cut the schedule of cheerleading, but that would have affected under 6,000 girls, while Florida high school football players number over 40,000.
In response, the FHSAA Board voted in July to rescind its decision, 15-0. It felt the money spent on the lawsuit would negate any savings from the original plan. The U.S. Department of Justice indicated it supported the lawsuit.
"The juice wasn't worth the squeeze," FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing told the Palm Beach Post.
Now, individual school districts will need to find their own ways to save money, which many athletic directors favored anyway. Teams are also now scrambling to revamp schedules.
This spring and summer, in order to assist schools facing severe budget cuts, many state high school associations debated whether to decrease the maximum number of contests its teams could play. Florida was one state that mandated a large reduction, cutting 20 percent of regular season games for all varsity sports except football for the next two years.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Board of Directors, which approved the measure 9-6 in April, believed the schedule cuts were necessary to keep teams from being completely dropped by some school districts. However, they ran into a huge roadblock by exempting football from the schedule reductions.
A group called Florida Parents for Athletic Equity, led by former Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar, decided to file a Title IX lawsuit against the FHSAA. They believe it is inequitable to leave one boys' sports schedule intact and not do the same for at least one girls' sport. Florida did not cut the schedule of cheerleading, but that would have affected under 6,000 girls, while Florida high school football players number over 40,000.
In response, the FHSAA Board voted in July to rescind its decision, 15-0. It felt the money spent on the lawsuit would negate any savings from the original plan. The U.S. Department of Justice indicated it supported the lawsuit.
"The juice wasn't worth the squeeze," FHSAA Executive Director Roger Dearing told the Palm Beach Post.
Now, individual school districts will need to find their own ways to save money, which many athletic directors favored anyway. Teams are also now scrambling to revamp schedules.