Some schools would no longer have to allow students to try out for a noncontact sports team that doesn’t align with their gender if there is no equivalent team for their gender, under a Title IX regulation issued recently by the U.S. Department of Energy — not the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). The rule change is to go into effect July 15 unless “significant adverse comments” were received by June 16. There is no report of such comments having been made.
The change would only apply to schools that have grants from the Energy Department, for example those receiving money under the agency’s $500 million Renew America’s School grant for energy efficiencies.
Specifically, the rule — called a “direct final rule” — would rescind the requirement that team sponsors offering teams for only one gender must allow members of the opposite gender to try out if no team exists for their gender, unless it is a contact sport. The rule defines contact sports as including boxing, wrestling, rugby, ice hockey, football, basketball and other sports that involve bodily contact.
The potential impact the rule change would have on some school systems has many Title IX observers questioning the rulemaking process, and they predict it will leave school officials confused because the Energy Department used a process reserved for proposed rule changes that aren’t significant in scope or don’t have major economic impacts. Moreover, it is the USDE that typically issues education-related rules.
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