## Facts

- A parent sued a Florida school board on behalf of a class of female students participating in girls’ varsity and junior varsity softball at two public high schools.
- The claims challenged disparities between girls’ softball and boys’ baseball programs at Titusville High School and Astronaut High School under Title IX and the Florida Educational Equity Act.
- Boys’ varsity and junior varsity baseball at both schools had on-campus fields used for practices and home games.
- Girls’ varsity and junior varsity softball at both schools practiced and played home games off-campus at a city-owned park facility not owned or operated by the school board.
- The boys’ on-campus baseball fields had features and amenities not available to the girls, including regulation field dimensions, batting cages, scoreboards, warm-up areas, concession stands, press boxes, and (at least at one school) lights enabling night practices and games.
- The girls’ off-campus softball fields lacked comparable amenities; fences were set at distances unsuitable for high-school softball, and the fields lacked lights, limiting practice and game scheduling.
- The girls’ facilities included reported safety and sanitation problems, including debris, transients occupying dugouts, and sexually harassing comments from men in the park.
- The court also found broader programmatic disparities affecting field quality and maintenance, access to restrooms and training facilities, and overall support and treatment of the girls’ teams compared to the boys’ teams.

## Issues

1. Whether the school board’s unequal treatment of girls’ softball compared to boys’ baseball constituted sex discrimination in an education program receiving federal financial assistance in violation of Title IX.
2. Whether the same disparities violated the Florida Educational Equity Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in public education.
3. Whether the aggregate effect of disparities across facilities, amenities, scheduling, and related support amounted to unlawful discrimination, even absent proof of intentional discrimination.

## Decision

- After a bench trial, the court found the school board liable for violating Title IX and the Florida Educational Equity Act.
- The court determined that inequalities between the girls’ softball and boys’ baseball programs at the two high schools amounted to unlawful sex-based disparities in athletic treatment and benefits.
- The court ordered the parties to develop remedial measures to bring the softball programs into compliance.
- A final order later entered permanent injunctive relief implementing and enforcing the remedial plan.

## Legal Principles

- Title IX requires recipients of federal funds to provide equal athletic opportunity and equivalent treatment and benefits to male and female students in interscholastic athletics.
- Compliance in athletics is evaluated by considering multiple program components (including facilities, equipment, scheduling, coaching support, medical and training services, and publicity) and assessing overall comparability rather than isolating a single factor.
- Substantial disparities in quality, accessibility, and safety of practice and competition facilities, together with related inequities in program support, can establish a Title IX violation based on discriminatory effect without requiring proof of discriminatory intent.
- The Florida Educational Equity Act prohibits sex discrimination in public education programs and may be enforced based on the same factual showing of unequal athletic treatment.

## Conclusion

The court held that sustained, cumulative disparities disadvantaging girls’ softball—especially inferior and unsafe off-campus facilities, fewer amenities, and reduced scheduling opportunities compared to boys’ baseball—constituted unlawful sex discrimination under Title IX and Florida law, warranting permanent injunctive relief to correct the inequities.


Landow v. Sch. Bd. of Brevard Cnty., 132 F. Supp. 2d 958 (M.D. Fla. 2000)