04/05/05 -- The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion announced March 29, broadened the scope of Title IX to prohibit retaliation against anyone who alleges unequal treatment in sex discrimination.
Title IX was enacted in 1972 to ban discrimination of girls and women in schools that receive federal funding.
The case was filed by Roderick Jackson, a girls basketball coach in Birmingham, Ala., who complained that girls teams at his high school were discriminated against because they received inferior equipment and practice facilities, compared to boys teams.
Jackson sued the Birmingham school district in 2001, alleging that the district’s failure to renew him as a coach -- although he continued his job as a physical education teacher -- was in retaliation for his complaints. His suit charged that protections of Title IX extended to whistleblowers, as well as victims of discrimination.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor agreed, writing in the majority opinion in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education that “reporting incidents of discrimination is integral to Title IX enforcement and would be discouraged if retaliation against those who report went unpunished.”
“Indeed,” O’Connor wrote, “if retaliation were not prohibited, Title IX’s enforcement scheme would unravel.”
NSBA, which had filed a brief in support of the Birmingham school board, warned that the expansion of Title IX will lead to more lawsuits against school districts, causing schools systems to divert resources from classroom instruction to defending themselves against lawsuits.
“NSBA fully supports the principle of Title IX to create gender equity in schools,” says Executive Director Anne L. Bryant. “But the Supreme Court has created a new pathway to the courthouse, despite the fact that Congress had already provided for Title IX enforcement without lawsuits.”
“Correcting problems and resolving disputes without lawsuits better serves individuals complaining of sex discrimination under Title IX and at a lower cost to taxpayers,” Bryant says. Coaches and teachers who believe they have been wrongly fired have other legal recourses.
“This ruling will not improve Title IX enforcement,” says NSBA General Counsel Julie Underwood. “In fact, it will encourage needless litigation for school districts. Now, school boards will have to anticipate lawsuits from employees who claim retaliation under those laws that are silent on retaliation provisions, as Title IX was. And more lawsuits mean fewer dollars for the classroom.”
Both the federal district court and appeals court had ruled in favor of the school district.