Assembly Panel Backs ‘Pass to Play’ Rule for High School Athletes

The Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday approved a “pass to play” bill designed to require public high school students to maintain a C average in order to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports competition.

An 8-1 vote sent the bill, by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and patterned after a tougher Los Angeles Unified School District policy, to the floor. It would apply to grades 7-12 effective next January.

The Los Angeles policy also specifies that athletes must receive no Fs in order to remain eligible for competition. Speaker Brown once had such a provision in his bill, but he had to drop it to obtain the votes necessary for approval.

“We must demand that students pass to play so they can learn to earn,” Brown said, adding that this would enable student athletes to go on to college and get a degree to help them make a living after their athletic careers are over.

“All too often the purpose of schooling becomes athletics rather than academics,” said Rita Walters, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education.

Although she conceded that there has been some “pressure” to drop the policy, Walters said she feels that it will be maintained because of the “rewarding outcome” for teachers, administrators, parents and students.

The Brown bill would require any student who wished to participate in extracurricular activities to maintain a 2.0 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. It would also apply to such activities as band, drill team and drama.

Other witnesses testifying in favor of the bill were Pam McGee, a member of the 1984 U.S. gold medal women’s Olympic basketball team and a USC graduate; Steve Thompson, a member of the Crenshaw High School state basketball championship team who has a 3.6 grade-point average and is headed for Syracuse University, and Ken Margerum, a wide receiver with the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears and a Stanford University graduate.

The legislation was opposed by representatives of the Parent-Teacher Assn., the California Federation of Teachers and the California School Boards Assn.

Rebecca A. Baumann of the school boards organization said the bill would override policies followed by 70% of the school districts that already require a C average for extracurricular activities but offer remedial programs to help athletes improve their grades while continuing to play.