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A Combined Legal and Policy Study of State Constitutions' Free Education Mandates as Applied to Interscholastic Athletics Pay-to-Play

Payment, Matthew Patrick
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4014-7360
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1669585951391963

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, Educational Leadership.
School boards throughout the country rely on interscholastic athletics pay-to-play policies to alleviate the financial pressure associated with operating comprehensive athletic programs. These policies potentially raise constitutional disputes pertaining to the failure of textual language to specify the programs included in state free educational guarantees. Moreover, the ongoing legal uncertainty places school boards that charge student-athlete participation fees in legally vulnerable positions because state government officials remain unwilling to clarify this question of state constitutional law. The purpose of this legal policy study was to investigate the complex relationships between and among the law, education, and amateur athletic development pertaining to interscholastic athletics pay-to-play. A multilayered research design allowed this researcher to examine the constitutionality of states’ interscholastic athletics pay-to-play provisions using both empirical and normative lenses. Legal research focuses narrowly on the law itself to locate such issues as the authority governing state constitutional free education guarantees applied to charging student-athletes participation fees. Comparatively, the study of public policy concentrates broadly on evaluating available policy options and the quality of past policy decisions. The legal research findings of this study revealed that school boards rely on either extracurricular activity participation fee or textbook user fee laws as the legal authority for implementing interscholastic athletics pay-to-play policies. States’ divergent legal positions align with their constitutionally identified autonomy over the governance of education but raise doubts about the quality of the policy design processes. Conversely, the similarities provide empirical evidence that states learned from other jurisdictions when seeking to settle student fee disputes. The findings of this policy analysis identified the approach utilized by the Supreme Court of California in Hartzell v. Connell as the best method for applying state constitutions’ free education guarantees to interscholastic athletics pay-to-play because of its capacity to consider competing approaches, values, and interests. This approach provides the flexibility necessary to consider the complex interactions within and between the law, education, and amateur athletics. Further, state legislatures are best positioned to rectify the ongoing constitutional uncertainty surrounding interscholastic athletics pay-to-play programs. Lastly, the policy analysis found providing some degree of deference to the financial consequences associated with operating athletic programs is reasonable to consider in determining the inclusion of interscholastic athletics in state constitutions’ free education guarantees. Even so, the level of deference should be proportional to the evidence provided by school boards demonstrating financial need. Currently, the inconsistency of the way in which school boards apply principles of accounting limits the reliability of athletic program financial reports. Thus, designing effective and enduring interscholastic athletic pay-to-play policies requires state-created accounting standards to ensure that school boards provide comprehensive, consistent, and accurate evidence related to the financial status of their interscholastic athletic programs.
Charles Russo (Committee Chair)
246 p.
Education Policy; Educational Leadership
Interscholastic Athletics Pay-to-Play State Constitutions’ Free Education Mandates School Boards’ Charging Student-Athlete Participation Fees State Student Fee Laws Revenue Streams for School Boards

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Citations

  • Payment, M. P. (2022). A Combined Legal and Policy Study of State Constitutions' Free Education Mandates as Applied to Interscholastic Athletics Pay-to-Play [Doctoral dissertation, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1669585951391963

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Payment, Matthew. A Combined Legal and Policy Study of State Constitutions' Free Education Mandates as Applied to Interscholastic Athletics Pay-to-Play. 2022. University of Dayton, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1669585951391963.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Payment, Matthew. "A Combined Legal and Policy Study of State Constitutions' Free Education Mandates as Applied to Interscholastic Athletics Pay-to-Play." Doctoral dissertation, University of Dayton, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1669585951391963

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1669585951391963
70
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This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.