WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In large part because of the impact of Title IX, women and girls today can participate in the full spectrum of educational and athletic opportunities they could only observe from the sidelines 30 years ago.  Yesterday, however, the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, appointed by the Bush administration to examine Title IX, made a number of troubling recommendations that we hope the administration does not follow.

The number of young women participating in athletics and, more important, attending college, has grown tremendously since -- and because of -- the passage of Title IX.  Two years after Title IX became law, men receiving athletic scholarships outnumbered women 1,000 to one.  Recent figures show that women now receive about one-third of athletic scholarship dollars. 

Yet, supporters of equal opportunity are left to wonder, and worry, about the fate of Title IX, given the commission’s recommendations.  We sincerely hope that the Bush administration will not follow these recommendations and will do everything possible to keep Title IX strong, rather than seek to "fix" a policy that is not broken.

The AFT applauds the three decades of achievement upon which Title IX stands today, and we strongly oppose any efforts to weaken its effectiveness.  We should uphold the advances that have fostered generations of athletes and students – men and women, and boys and girls alike.