District presents HB 420 athletic participation report; board discusses Title IX facility questions

Granite School District staff presented the annual interscholastic sports participation report required under House Bill 420 and discussed Title IX-related parity concerns during the Sept. 2 board meeting.

An athletics presenter told the board the report follows the legislative requirements of House Bill 420 and includes the number and type of interscholastic sports by gender, counts of participating students by gender, spending by program (total and per‑student), practice and game-location comparisons, school self‑assessments of Title IX compliance and action plans for schools with disparities above 10 percent. “On the first page, you will find an introduction, which includes the legislative requirements of House Bill 420,” the presenter said.

The presentation included school-level examples (Skyline High School) and a district summary. Staff said the district applied a rubric for self‑assessment and that most schools received good scores; schools with participation disparities of 10% or more must submit action plans. The presenter pointed to Skyline’s 16% disparity and said the school’s action plan emphasizes highlighting women’s sports on social media and working with feeder programs to increase participation among incoming freshmen.

Board members raised questions about how off-site charter students and homeschool students are counted. The presenter said participation by those students who play for district teams is included in participation numbers and program spending, but district enrollment figures do not include charter (AIMS) enrollment even though many AIMS students participate on district teams. “Participation numbers are included, but enrollment is not,” the presenter said.

A board member asked whether HB 420 or Title IX require measurement of coach facilities and offices. The presenter said HB 420 “does not address that” and is focused on student participation and spending; Title IX, the presenter said, does address facilities as one of several elements to review for parity. “Title IX does address it,” the presenter said in response, noting an “indirect connection there, obviously, to facilities that coaches have access to.”

Board members pressed how the report accounts for revenues and expenses. Staff said revenues generally include school fees and fundraising and that schools previously collected activity fees that the district now largely replaced with district allocations. The presenter said the district has increased allocations to high schools to replace the lost $65 per-student registration fee and reimburses schools for fee waivers so dollars reach schools equitably. Staff also described the report’s budget lines as including equipment and uniform costs in school contributions and noted variability between schools.

Board members asked whether co‑ed activities such as cheer or drill were counted for both genders; staff said counts reflect actual participants in the reporting year and that co‑ed participation is counted according to who participated that year.

Staff said the district has created a Title IX committee with administrators, athletic directors and coaches; the committee reviews school action plans and can recommend capital or operating changes where disparities appear. The presenter said the district has used the new reporting to build feedback loops and feed data into budget decisions and that a high-school guiding coalition of principals will use economies of scale to coordinate athletics practices and facilities.

No formal board votes or motions were recorded on the athletics report during the meeting. Staff invited board feedback on the reporting format and said they will refine definitions and add page numbers in future editions.

Speakers quoted or cited in this article are those who spoke during the athletics segment of the Sept. 2 board meeting and are listed in the record provided to the board.