Funding approved for LCSC’s step toward Title IX compliance

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The Idaho State Board of Education has approved initial funding for Lewis-Clark State College to move closer to Title IX compliance. 

The board allocated an additional $115,000 for the school’s athletic department, in a move LC President Cynthia Pemberton says will help the athletic department address gender equity over the next three to five years. The hope is to bolster the rosters of women’s sports, while holding participation in men’s athletics constant. 

The first phase focuses on getting 24 more women athletes to participate in sports. One of the college’s priorities for fiscal year 2020 is to fully fund a full-time head coach with benefits for each sport, as well as assistant coaches for all women’s sports. Currently, LCSC has one coach for both men’s and women’s golf. LCSC is also looking to add more women’s sports like soccer. 

The state board also approved the first reading of a proposal that would increase the spending limits on university athletic programs. The increased funding would allow for “competitive, yet not extravagant, athletic programs,” stated board information. 

LC asked for an increase of more than $1.9 million, which would raise its current budget for intercollegiate athletics from about $1.3 million to $3.2 million. The University of Idaho and Idaho State University also requested increases of about $1.5 million and $1 million, respectively. Boise State University did not ask for an increase.  (Lewiston Tribune)

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